[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 554 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 554

 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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 2, 2005

 Mr. Keller (for himself, Mr. DeLay, Mr. Blunt, Ms. Pryce of Ohio, Mr. 
  Sensenbrenner, Mr. Ney, Mr. Tiberi, Mr. Boehner, Mr. Garrett of New 
    Jersey, Mr. Kennedy of Minnesota, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. 
  Hensarling, Mr. Foley, Mr. Brown of South Carolina, Ms. Ginny Brown-
Waite of Florida, Mr. Jones of North Carolina, Mr. Carter, Mr. Smith of 
 Texas, Mr. Bachus, Mr. Pence, Mr. Simpson, Mrs. Cubin, Mr. Akin, Mr. 
Norwood, Mr. Otter, Mr. Stearns, Mr. Bradley of New Hampshire, Mr. Cox, 
   Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Franks of Arizona, Mr. Mack, Mr. Calvert, Mr. 
Petri, Mr. Kirk, Mrs. Jo Ann Davis of Virginia, Mr. Green of Wisconsin, 
Mr. McHugh, Mr. Hastings of Washington, Mr. Gilchrest, Mr. Peterson of 
Pennsylvania, and Ms. Berkley) introduced the following bill; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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.

    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 action of the type described in clause 
        (i) or (ii) of section 4(5)(B), 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)(B)(i), 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.--(A) Subject to 
        subparagraphs (B) and (C), 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.
            (B) Such term shall not include--
                    (i) 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; or
                    (ii) an action for breach of express contract or 
                express warranty in connection with the purchase of a 
                qualified product.
            (C) Such term shall not be construed to include an action 
        brought under the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et 
        seq.) or the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 
        301 et seq.).
            (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.
                                 <all>