[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 77 (Wednesday, May 10, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6369-S6370]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          COMMONSENSE PRODUCT LIABIL- ITY AND LEGAL REFORM ACT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Campbell). The Senate will resume 
consideration of H.R. 956, which the clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 956) to establish legal standards and 
     procedures for product liability litigation, and for other 
     purposes.

  The Senate resumed consideration of the bill.

       Pending:
       Gorton amendment No. 596, in the nature of a substitute.
       Coverdell-Dole amendment No. 690 (to amendment No. 596), in 
     the nature of a substitute.
       Shelby-Heflin modified amendment No. 693 (to amendment No. 
     690), to provide that a defendant may be liable for certain 
     damages if the alleged harm to a claimant is death and 
     certain damages are provided for under State law.
       Harkin amendment No. 749 (to amendment No. 690), to adjust 
     the limitation on punitive damages that may be awarded 
     against certain defendants.

  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, as I have just announced on behalf of the 
majority leader, we will have two votes in about 10 minutes. Seeing 
nobody here at the moment to speak, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


      Amendment No. 693, as Further Modified, to Amendment No. 596

  Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed 
to amend the Shelby-Heflin amendment, which is slated to be voted on in 
a few minutes, by inserting at the end of the amendment: ``This 
paragraph shall cease to be effective September 1, 1996.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 693), as further modified, is as follows:

       At the appropriate place insert the following:

     SEC.   . LIABILITY FOR CERTAIN CLAIMS RELATING TO DEATH.

       In any civil action in which the alleged harm to the 
     claimant is death and, as of the effective date of this Act, 
     the applicable State law provides, or has been construed to 
     provide for damages only punitive in nature, a defendant may 
     be liable for any such damages without regard to section 107 
     but only during such time as the State law so provides. This 
     paragraph shall cease to be effective September 1, 1996.

  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, this is now a reasonable amendment. There 
was a debate on the Shelby-Heflin amendment yesterday to which I had 
certain objections, but it is clear that the law of Alabama is unique 
and peculiar.
  [[Page S6370]] I think it can easily be amended, and the two Senators 
from Alabama will want to give the Alabama Legislature sufficient time 
to consider that amendment. I think that is appropriate, and I believe 
that we can now accept the Shelby-Heflin amendment by voice vote. 
Assuming that we do so, Mr. President, there will only be one vote at 
9:45.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment, 
as further modified.
  So the amendment (No. 693), as further modified, was agreed to.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. SHELBY. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. HEFLIN. Mr. President, I have reservations about this in regard 
to what has occurred, but I am faced with reality, the reality of 
votes, and the reality of conference.
  Senator Shelby and I, therefore, are approaching this issue from a 
pragmatic, not philosophical, viewpoint. I just want to make that 
clear.
  Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, regarding the amendment we have worked out 
and that has been voted on, I agree with the senior Senator from 
Alabama. We can both count. We were counting votes and we were looking 
reality in the face.
  Our State of Alabama is unique among the 50 States in that, as I have 
said before on the floor, we have had a wrongful death statute that 
assesses punitive damages only where someone is killed and there is a 
civil action because of the death. Most States in the Union--I guess 
all of them except Alabama--have compensatory damages.
  If I had my ``druthers,'' I would leave this like it was or like it 
is today, but this will give the Alabama Legislature until September 
12, 1996, to consider changing it, if this proposed legislation were to 
become law.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


               Vote on Motion to Table Amendment No. 749

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question occurs 
on amendment No. 749, offered by the Senator from Iowa [Mr. Harkin].
  Mr. GORTON. I move to table the Harkin amendment, and I ask for the 
yeas and nays
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion to 
table.
  The yeas and nays have been ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. LOTT. I announce that the Senator from Virginia [Mr. Warner] is 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Connecticut [Mr. 
Lieberman] is absent because of death in the family.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Burns). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 78, nays 20, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 159 Leg.]

                                YEAS--78

     Abraham
     Ashcroft
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Bradley
     Breaux
     Brown
     Bryan
     Burns
     Campbell
     Chafee
     Coats
     Cochran
     Cohen
     Coverdell
     Craig
     D'Amato
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Dole
     Domenici
     Exon
     Faircloth
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Ford
     Frist
     Glenn
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hatfield
     Heflin
     Helms
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Jeffords
     Johnston
     Kassebaum
     Kempthorne
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Lautenberg
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Moseley-Braun
     Moynihan
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nickles
     Nunn
     Packwood
     Pell
     Pressler
     Pryor
     Robb
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Simon
     Simpson
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond

                                NAYS--20

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Boxer
     Bumpers
     Byrd
     Conrad
     Daschle
     Dorgan
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hollings
     Inouye
     Kennedy
     Leahy
     Levin
     Mikulski
     Reid
     Sarbanes
     Shelby
     Wellstone

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Lieberman
     Warner
       
  So the motion to lay on the table the amendment (No. 749) was agreed 
to.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  (Later the following occurred.)

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