[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 520 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 520

 To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for reassignment of 
             certain Federal cases upon request of a party.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 4, 1997

Mr. Canady of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                   to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for reassignment of 
             certain Federal cases upon request of a party.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Peremptory Challenge Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. PEREMPTORY CHALLENGES OF JUDGES.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 21 of title 28 of the United States Code 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 464. Reassignment of cases upon request by a party
    ``(a)(1) If all parties on one side of a civil or criminal case to 
be tried in a Federal district court, the United States Claims Court, 
or a bankruptcy court file an application requesting the reassignment 
of the case, the case shall be reassigned to another appropriate 
judicial officer.
    ``(2) If any question arises as to which parties should be grouped 
together as a side for the purposes of this section, the chief judge of 
the court of appeals for the circuit in which the case is to be tried, 
or another judge of the court of appeals designated by the chief judge, 
shall determine that question.
    ``(b) An application under this section must be filed not later 
than 20 days after notice of the assignment of the case to an 
appropriate judicial officer for the purpose of hearing or deciding any 
matter, except that--
            ``(1) a party joined in a civil action after the initial 
        filing, with the concurrence of the other parties on the same 
        side, may file an application within 20 days of the service of 
        the complaint on that party; and
            ``(2) a party served with a supplemental or amended 
        complaint or a third-party complaint in a civil action, with 
        the concurrence of the other parties on the same side, may file 
        an application within 20 days of service of the supplemental, 
        amended, or third-party complaint on that party.
However, no application under this section may be filed by the party or 
parties on a side in a case if any party or parties on that side have 
previously filed an application in the case.
    ``(c) As used in this section, the term `appropriate judicial 
officer' means--
            ``(1) a United States district court judge in a case before 
        a United States district court;
            ``(2) a United States Claims Court judge in a case before 
        that court;
            ``(3) a United States bankruptcy judge in a case under 
        title 11; and
            ``(4) a United States magistrate judge in a case referred 
        to such a magistrate judge.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
chapter 21 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following new item:

``464. Reassignment of cases upon request by a party.''.
                                 <all>