[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 92 (Friday, June 25, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1411]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              SMALL BUSINESS LIABILITY REFORM ACT OF 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TIM HOLDEN

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 25, 1999

  Mr. HOLDEN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join with my colleagues to 
introduce the Small Business Liability Reform Act of 1999. Like the 
other pieces of civil justice reform legislation that have recently 
been enacted into Federal law, this bill departs from the comprehensive 
approach that advocates of broad product liability and tort reform have 
taken in the past. Instead, this bill focuses on a few key specific 
liability issues: the exposure of very small businesses--those with 
fewer than 25 full-time employees--to joint liability for non-economic 
damages and punitive damages, and the exposure of retailers, 
wholesalers, distributors and other non-manufacturing product sellers 
to product liability lawsuits for harms they did not cause.
  Last month, similar legislation was introduced in the other body (S. 
1185) and it is my hope and expectation that our efforts in this body 
will combine with the work of our Senate colleagues to enable the 
Congress to respond positively and on a bipartisan basis to the 
concerns we hear year after year from smaller employers about our civil 
justice system.
  Let me emphasize, Mr. Speaker, that the bill we introduce today is 
careful not to overreach. As I previously indicated, this is a narrowly 
crafted, tightly focused bill. The provisions restraining joint 
liability and punitive damages do not apply to civil cases that may 
arise from certain violations of criminal law or egregious misconduct. 
Nor do they apply in States that elect to opt-out with respect to cases 
brought in State court in which all parties are citizens of the State. 
The product seller liability provisions are strictly confined to 
product liability actions and protect the ability of innocent victims 
of defective products to fully recover damage awards to which they are 
entitled.
  Mr. Speaker, the provisions of this legislation have previously won 
bipartisan support in both houses of Congress. Although limited in 
scope, their enactment into law will reduce unnecessary litigation and 
wasteful legal costs and improve the administration of civil justice 
across this country. I look forward to working with my colleagues on 
both sides of the aisle to pass this limited but meaningful civil 
justice reform bill with strong bipartisan support.

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