[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1768 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

  2d Session
                                H. R. 1768


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 25, 2004

  Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
To amend title 28, United States Code, to allow a judge to whom a case 
   is transferred to retain jurisdiction over certain multidistrict 
          litigation cases for trial, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Multidistrict Litigation Restoration 
Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION.

     Section 1407 of title 28, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in the third sentence of subsection (a), by inserting 
        ``or ordered transferred to the transferee or other district 
        under subsection (i)'' after ``terminated''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(i)(1) Subject to paragraph (2) and except as provided in 
subsection (j), any action transferred under this section by the panel 
may be transferred for trial purposes, by the judge or judges of the 
transferee district to whom the action was assigned, to the transferee 
or other district in the interest of justice and for the convenience of 
the parties and witnesses.
    ``(2) Any action transferred for trial purposes under paragraph (1) 
shall be remanded by the panel for the determination of compensatory 
damages to the district court from which it was transferred, unless the 
court to which the action has been transferred for trial purposes also 
finds, for the convenience of the parties and witnesses and in the 
interests of justice, that the action should be retained for the 
determination of compensatory damages.''.

SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT TO MULTIPARTY, MULTIFORM TRIAL JURISDICTION 
              ACT OF 2002.

    Section 1407 of title 28, United States Code, as amended by section 
2 of this Act, is further amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(j)(1) In actions transferred under this section when 
jurisdiction is or could have been based, in whole or in part, on 
section 1369 of this title, the transferee district court may, 
notwithstanding any other provision of this section, retain actions so 
transferred for the determination of liability and punitive damages. An 
action retained for the determination of liability shall be remanded to 
the district court from which the action was transferred, or to the 
State court from which the action was removed, for the determination of 
damages, other than punitive damages, unless the court finds, for the 
convenience of parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice, 
that the action should be retained for the determination of damages.
    ``(2) Any remand under paragraph (1) shall not be effective until 
60 days after the transferee court has issued an order determining 
liability and has certified its intention to remand some or all of the 
transferred actions for the determination of damages. An appeal with 
respect to the liability determination and the choice of law 
determination of the transferee court may be taken during that 60-day 
period to the court of appeals with appellate jurisdiction over the 
transferee court. In the event a party files such an appeal, the remand 
shall not be effective until the appeal has been finally disposed of. 
Once the remand has become effective, the liability determination and 
the choice of law determination shall not be subject to further review 
by appeal or otherwise.
    ``(3) An appeal with respect to determination of punitive damages 
by the transferee court may be taken, during the 60-day period 
beginning on the date the order making the determination is issued, to 
the court of appeals with jurisdiction over the transferee court.
    ``(4) Any decision under this subsection concerning remand for the 
determination of damages shall not be reviewable by appeal or 
otherwise.
    ``(5) Nothing in this subsection shall restrict the authority of 
the transferee court to transfer or dismiss an action on the ground of 
inconvenient forum.''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    (a) Section 2.--The amendments made by section 2 shall apply to any 
civil action pending on or brought on or after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
    (b) Section 3.--The amendment made by section 3 shall be effective 
as if enacted in section 11020(b) of the Multiparty, Multiforum Trial 
Jurisdiction Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-273; 116 Stat. 1826 et seq.).

            Passed the House of Representatives March 24, 2004.

            Attest:

                                                 JEFF TRANDAHL,

                                                                 Clerk.