[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 773 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 773

 To discourage frivolous, vexatious, or objectively baseless lawsuits.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 10, 2005

  Mr. McKeon introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To discourage frivolous, vexatious, or objectively baseless lawsuits.

    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 ``Fairness in Labor Litigation Act''.

SEC. 2. RELIEF FROM BASELESS LITIGATION; REIMBURSEMENT FOR COSTS AND 
              EXPENSES.

    (a) Employers.--Section 8(a) of the National Labor Relations Act 
(29 U.S.C. 158(a)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph 4;
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (5) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6) to bring or cause to be brought any civil or 
        adversarial adjudicatory action against a labor organization 
        if, irrespective of the outcome, such action is determined by a 
        competent fact finder to be frivolous, vexatious, or 
        objectively baseless and not brought in good faith. A party 
        found to have violated this section shall be liable to the 
        party or parties against whom such action is brought for all 
        reasonable costs, fees, and expenses incurred in the defense of 
        such action''.
    (b) Labor Organizations.--Section 8(b) of the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158(b)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (6);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (7) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(8) to bring or cause to be brought any civil or 
        adversarial adjudicatory action against an employer if, 
        irrespective of the outcome, such action is determined by a 
        competent fact finder to be frivolous, vexatious, or 
        objectively baseless and not brought in good faith. A party 
        found to have violated this section shall be liable to the 
        party or parties against whom such action is brought for all 
        reasonable costs, fees, and expenses incurred in the defense of 
        such action''.

SEC. 3. REGULATIONS.

    Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the National Labor Relations Board shall review and revise all 
regulations promulgated before such date to implement the amendments 
made by this Act to the National Labor Relations Act.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall be effective 90 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act.
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