[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5895 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5895

To limit the effect of legal releases in certain civil actions, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 2010

  Ms. Waters (for herself, Mr. Conyers, and Mr. Jackson of Illinois) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To limit the effect of legal releases in certain civil actions, 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 ``Gulf Coast Oil Spill Legal 
Liabilities and Claims Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON EFFECT OF LEGAL RELEASES IN CERTAIN CIVIL 
              ACTIONS.

    No settlement, legal release, or other agreement shall extinguish 
or limit liability in a civil action for significant harm arising from 
a discharge into waters off the shore of the United States of a 
substance that contaminates a marine or coastal environment or 
endangers public health, if such settlement, legal release, or 
agreement is entered into under coercion or duress or is entered into 
in exchange for any benefit other than a settlement of claims pending.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO CLASS ACTION FAIRNESS ACT.

    Title 28, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in section 1711(2), by inserting ``, but does not 
        include an action brought by a State or subdivision of a State 
        on behalf of its citizens'' before the period;
            (2) in section 1332(d)(1)(B), by inserting ``, but does not 
        include an action brought by a State or subdivision of a State 
        on behalf of its citizens'' before the semicolon; and
            (3) in section 1332(d)(11)(B)(ii)--
                    (A) by striking ``or'' at the end of subclause 
                (III);
                    (B) by striking the period at the end of subclause 
                (IV) and inserting ``; or''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(V) the claims are made by a State or subdivision of a 
        State on behalf of its citizens.''.
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