108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 339

AN ACT

To prevent legislative and regulatory functions from

being usurped by civil liability actions brought orcontinued against food manufacturers, marketers, distributors, advertisers, sellers, and tradeassociations for claims of injury relating to a person’s weight gain, obesity, or any health condition associated with weight gain or obesity.

108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 339

AN ACT

To prevent legislative and regulatory functions from being

usurped by civil liability actions brought or continued

against food manufacturers, marketers, distributors, advertisers, sellers, and trade associations for claims of

injury relating to a person’s weight gain, obesity, or

any health condition associated with weight gain or obesity.
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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Personal Responsibility

5 in Food Consumption Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

7 The purpose of this Act is to allow Congress, State

8 legislatures, and regulatory agencies to determine appro9 priate laws, rules, and regulations to address the problems

10 of weight gain, obesity, and health conditions associated

11 with weight gain or obesity.

12 SEC. 3. PRESERVATION OF SEPARATION OF POWERS.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—A qualified civil liability action

14 may not be brought in any Federal or State court.

15 (b) DISMISSAL OF PENDING ACTIONS.—A qualified

16 civil liability action that is pending on the date of the en17 actment of this Act shall be dismissed immediately by the

18 court in which the action was brought or is currently pend19 ing.

20 (c) DISCOVERY.—

21 (1) STAY.—In any action of the type described

22 in clause (i) or (ii) of section 4(5)(B), all discovery

23 and other proceedings shall be stayed during the

24 pendency of any motion to dismiss unless the court

25 finds upon motion of any party that particularized
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1 discovery is necessary to preserve evidence or to pre2 vent undue prejudice to that party.

3 (2) RESPONSIBILITY OF PARTIES.—During the

4 pendency of any stay of discovery under paragraph

5 (1), unless otherwise ordered by the court, any party

6 to the action with actual notice of the allegations

7 contained in the complaint shall treat all documents,

8 data compilations (including electronically recorded

9 or stored data), and tangible objects that are in the

10 custody or control of such person and that are rel11 evant to the allegations, as if they were the subject

12 of a continuing request for production of documents

13 from an opposing party under applicable Federal or

14 State rules of civil procedure, as the case may be.

15 A party aggrieved by the willful failure of an oppos16 ing party to comply with this paragraph may apply

17 to the court for an order awarding appropriate sanc18 tions.

19 (d) PLEADINGS.—In any action of the type described

20 in section 4(5)(B)(i), the complaint initiating such action

21 shall state with particularity the Federal and State stat22 utes that were allegedly violated and the facts that are

23 alleged to have proximately caused the injury claimed.

24 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

25 In this Act:
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1 (1) ENGAGED IN THE BUSINESS.—The term

2 ‘‘engaged in the business’’ means a person who man3 ufactures, markets, distributes, advertises, or sells a

4 qualified product in the person’s regular course of

5 trade or business.

6 (2) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘‘manufac7 turer’’ means, with respect to a qualified product, a

8 person who is lawfully engaged in the business of

9 manufacturing the product in interstate or foreign

10 commerce.

11 (3) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means any

12 individual, corporation, company, association, firm,

13 partnership, society, joint stock company, or any

14 other entity, including any governmental entity.

15 (4) QUALIFIED PRODUCT.—The term ‘‘qualified

16 product’’ means a food (as defined in section 201(f)

17 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21

18 U.S.C. 321(f))).

19 (5) QUALIFIED CIVIL LIABILITY ACTION.—(A)

20 Subject to subparagraphs (B) and (C), the term

21 ‘‘qualified civil liability action’’ means a civil action

22 brought by any person against a manufacturer or

23 seller of a qualified product, or a trade association,

24 for damages, penalties, declaratory judgment, in25 junctive or declaratory relief, restitution, or other re-
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1 lief arising out of, related to, or resulting in injury

2 or potential injury resulting from a person’s con3 sumption of a qualified product and weight gain,

4 obesity, or any health condition that is associated

5 with a person’s weight gain or obesity, including an

6 action brought by a person other than the person on

7 whose weight gain, obesity, or health condition the

8 action is based, and any derivative action brought by

9 or on behalf of any person or any representative,

10 spouse, parent, child, or other relative of any person.

11 (B) Such term shall not include–

12 (i) an action in which a manufacturer or

13 seller of a qualified product knowingly and will14 fully violated a Federal or State statute applica15 ble to the manufacturing, marketing, distribu16 tion, advertisement, labeling, or sale of the

17 product, and the violation was a proximate

18 cause of injury related to a person’s weight

19 gain, obesity, or any health condition associated

20 with a person’s weight gain or obesity; or

21 (ii) an action for breach of express con22 tract or express warranty in connection with the

23 purchase of a qualified product.

24 (C) Such term shall not be construed to include

25 an action brought under the Federal Trade Commis-
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1 sion Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) or the Federal Food,

2 Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.).

3 (6) SELLER.—The term ‘‘seller’’ means, with

4 respect to a qualified product, a person lawfully en5 gaged in the business of marketing, distributing, ad6 vertising, or selling a qualified product in interstate

7 or foreign commerce.

8 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes each of

9 the several States of the United States, the District

10 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

11 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the

12 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,

13 and any other territory or possession of the United

14 States, and any political subdivision of any such

15 place.

16 (8) TRADE ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘‘trade as17 sociation’’ means any association or business organi18 zation (whether or not incorporated under Federal

19 or State law) that is not operated for profit, and 2

20 or more members of which are manufacturers, mar-
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1 keters, distributors, advertisers, or sellers of a quali2 fied product.

Passed the House of Representatives March 10,

2004.

Attest:

Clerk.