[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 542 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 542

 To eliminate the learned intermediary defense to tort claims based on 
               product liability, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 8, 2011

  Mr. Filner introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To eliminate the learned intermediary defense to tort claims based on 
               product liability, 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 ``Consumer Protection Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. LEARNED INTERMEDIARY DEFENSE.

    (a) In General.--It shall not be a defense to any tort claim in any 
court in the United States that a manufacture of a product has 
fulfilled that manufacturer's duty of care when the manufacturer 
provides all of the necessary information to a learned intermediary who 
then interacts with the consumer of the product.
    (b) Definition.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``learned intermediary'' means a person, 
        licenced under applicable State or Federal law, to advise a 
        consumer whether or not to use the product in question; and
            (2) the term ``State'' includes the District of Columbia, 
        Puerto Rico, and any other commonwealth, possession, or 
        territory of the United States.
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