[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 339 Reported in House (RH)]






                                                 Union Calendar No. 248
108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 339

                          [Report No. 108-432]

To prevent frivolous lawsuits against the manufacturers, distributors, 
or sellers of food or non-alcoholic beverage products that comply with 
           applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 27, 2003

Mr. Keller (for himself, Mr. Ney, Mr. Graves, Mr. Tiberi, Mrs. Biggert, 
 Mr. Crenshaw, and Mr. Peterson of Minnesota) introduced the following 
       bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

                             March 5, 2004

 Additional sponsors: Mr. Mica, Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Mr. 
 Feeney, Mr. Pence, Mr. Chocola, Mr. Miller of Florida, Mr. Issa, Mr. 
  Schrock, Mr. Putnam, Mr. Forbes, Mr. Kirk, Mr. Baker, Ms. Hart, Mr. 
 Cole, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Franks of Arizona, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, 
Mr. Osborne, Mr. DeLay, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Weldon of Florida, Mr. Stearns, 
    Mr. Akin, Mr. Sensenbrenner, Mr. Isakson, Mr. Barrett of South 
 Carolina, Mr. Oxley, Mr. Souder, Mr. Wamp, Mr. Foley, Mr. Cannon, Mr. 
   LoBiondo, Mr. Hastings of Washington, Mr. Lewis of Kentucky, Ms. 
Harris, Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite of Florida, Mrs. Cubin, Mr. Janklow, Mr. 
Smith of Texas, Mr. Boehner, Mr. DeMint, Mr. Hoekstra, Mr. Hobson, Mr. 
 Goss, Mr. Tiahrt, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Carter, Mr. Renzi, Mr. Bonilla, Mr. 
Gallegly, Mr. Goode, Mrs. Jo Ann Davis of Virginia, Mr. Goodlatte, Mrs. 
   Blackburn, Mr. Young of Florida, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Doolittle, Mr. 
 Herger, Mr. Rogers of Michigan, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Otter, Mr. Young of 
Alaska, Mr. Kline, Mr. Kennedy of Minnesota, Mr. Scott of Georgia, Mr. 
 Green of Wisconsin, Mr. Ballenger, Mr. Lucas of Kentucky, Mr. Platts, 
 Mr. Everett, Mr. Upton, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Greenwood, Mr. Bradley of New 
 Hampshire, Ms. Pryce of Ohio, Mr. Saxton, Mr. Towns, Mr. Hensarling, 
 Mrs. Musgrave, Mrs. Northup, Mr. Simmons, Mr. Ryan of Wisconsin, Mr. 
   Petri, Mr. Knollenberg, Mr. McInnis, Mr. Shaw, Mrs. Emerson, Mr. 
     Bilirakis, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Brady of Texas, Mr. Pearce, Mr. 
Nethercutt, Mr. Tancredo, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Garrett of New Jersey, 
 Mrs. Capito, Mr. Toomey, Mr. Rogers of Alabama, Mr. Ford, Mr. LaHood, 
 Mr. Burgess, Ms. Berkley, Mr. John, Mr. Bachus, Mr. Hall, Mr. Burns, 
   Mr. Cox, Mr. Beauprez, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Terry, Mr. 
                       Cardoza, and Mr. Stenholm

                             March 5, 2004

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 
          on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 
                               27, 2003]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prevent frivolous lawsuits against the manufacturers, distributors, 
or sellers of food or non-alcoholic beverage products that comply with 
           applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

    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 ``Personal Responsibility in Food 
Consumption Act''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to allow Congress, State legislatures, 
and regulatory agencies to determine appropriate laws, rules, and 
regulations to address the problems of weight gain, obesity, and health 
conditions associated with weight gain or obesity.

SEC. 3. PRESERVATION OF SEPARATION OF POWERS.

    (a) In General.--A qualified civil liability action may not be 
brought in any Federal or State court.
    (b) Dismissal of Pending Actions.--A qualified civil liability 
action that is pending on the date of the enactment of this Act shall 
be dismissed immediately by the court in which the action was brought 
or is currently pending.
    (c) Discovery.--
            (1) Stay.--In any qualified civil liability action, all 
        discovery and other proceedings shall be stayed during the 
        pendency of any motion to dismiss unless the court finds upon 
        motion of any party that particularized discovery is necessary 
        to preserve evidence or to prevent undue prejudice to that 
        party.
            (2) Responsibility of parties.--During the pendency of any 
        stay of discovery under paragraph (1), unless otherwise ordered 
        by the court, any party to the action with actual notice of the 
        allegations contained in the complaint shall treat all 
        documents, data compilations (including electronically recorded 
        or stored data), and tangible objects that are in the custody 
        or control of such person and that are relevant to the 
        allegations, as if they were the subject of a continuing 
        request for production of documents from an opposing party 
        under applicable Federal or State rules of civil procedure, as 
        the case may be. A party aggrieved by the willful failure of an 
        opposing party to comply with this paragraph may apply to the 
        court for an order awarding appropriate sanctions.
    (d) Pleadings.--In any action of the type described in section 
4(5)(A), the complaint initiating such action shall state with 
particularity the Federal and State statutes that were allegedly 
violated and the facts that are alleged to have proximately caused the 
injury claimed.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Engaged in the business.--The term ``engaged in the 
        business'' means a person who manufactures, markets, 
        distributes, advertises, or sells a qualified product in the 
        person's regular course of trade or business.
            (2) Manufacturer.--The term ``manufacturer'' means, with 
        respect to a qualified product, a person who is lawfully 
        engaged in the business of manufacturing the product in 
        interstate or foreign commerce.
            (3) Person.--The term ``person'' means any individual, 
        corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, society, 
        joint stock company, or any other entity, including any 
        governmental entity.
            (4) Qualified product.--The term ``qualified product'' 
        means a food (as defined in section 201(f) of the Federal Food, 
        Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321(f))).
            (5) Qualified civil liability action.--The term ``qualified 
        civil liability action'' means a civil action brought by any 
        person against a manufacturer or seller of a qualified product, 
        or a trade association, for damages, penalties, declaratory 
        judgment, injunctive or declaratory relief, restitution, or 
        other relief arising out of, related to, or resulting in injury 
        or potential injury resulting from a person's consumption of a 
        qualified product and weight gain, obesity, or any health 
        condition that is associated with a person's weight gain or 
        obesity, including an action brought by a person other than the 
        person on whose weight gain, obesity, or health condition the 
        action is based, and any derivative action brought by or on 
        behalf of any person or any representative, spouse, parent, 
        child, or other relative of any person, but shall not include--
                    (A) an action in which a manufacturer or seller of 
                a qualified product knowingly and willfully violated a 
                Federal or State statute applicable to the 
                manufacturing, marketing, distribution, advertisement, 
                labeling, or sale of the product, and the violation was 
                a proximate cause of injury related to a person's 
                weight gain, obesity, or any health condition 
                associated with a person's weight gain or obesity;
                    (B) an action for breach of express contract or 
                express warranty in connection with the purchase of a 
                qualified product; or
                    (C) an action regarding the sale of a qualified 
                product which is adulterated (as described in section 
                402 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 
                U.S.C. 342)).
            (6) Seller.--The term ``seller'' means, with respect to a 
        qualified product, a person lawfully engaged in the business of 
        marketing, distributing, advertising, or selling a qualified 
        product in interstate or foreign commerce.
            (7) State.--The term ``State'' includes each of the several 
        States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the 
        Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American 
        Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
        and any other territory or possession of the United States, and 
        any political subdivision of any such place.
            (8) Trade association.--The term ``trade association'' 
        means any association or business organization (whether or not 
        incorporated under Federal or State law) that is not operated 
        for profit, and 2 or more members of which are manufacturers, 
        marketers, distributors, advertisers, or sellers of a qualified 
        product.
            Amend the title so as to read: ``A bill to prevent 
        legislative and regulatory functions from being usurped by 
        civil liability actions brought or continued against food 
        manufacturers, marketers, distributors, advertisers, sellers, 
        and trade associations for claims of injury relating to a 
        person's weight gain, obesity, or any health condition 
        associated with weight gain or obesity.''.
                                                 Union Calendar No. 248

108th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 339

                          [Report No. 108-432]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

To prevent frivolous lawsuits against the manufacturers, distributors, 
or sellers of food or non-alcoholic beverage products that comply with 
           applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

_______________________________________________________________________

                             March 5, 2004

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 
          on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed