IB 

Union Calendar No. 248

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 339

[Report No. 108–432] 

To prevent frivolous lawsuits against the manufacturers, distributors, or sellers of food or non-alcoholic beverage products that comply with applicable 

statutory and regulatory requirements. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 27, 2003

Mr. KELLER (for himself, Mr. NEY, Mr. GRAVES, Mr. TIBERI, Mrs. BIGGERT, 

Mr. CRENSHAW, and Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

MARCH 5, 2004

Additional sponsors: Mr. MICA, Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. 

FEENEY, Mr. PENCE, Mr. CHOCOLA, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. ISSA, 

Mr. SCHROCK, Mr. PUTNAM, Mr. FORBES, Mr. KIRK, Mr. BAKER, Ms. 

HART, Mr. COLE, Mr. PITTS, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. WILSON of 

South Carolina, Mr. OSBORNE, Mr. DELAY, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. WELDON

of Florida, Mr. STEARNS, Mr. AKIN, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. 

ISAKSON, Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. SOUDER, 

Mr. WAMP, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. CANNON, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. HASTINGS of 

Washington, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Ms. HARRIS, Ms. GINNY BROWNWAITE of Florida, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. Janklow, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. 

BOEHNER, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. HOBSON, Mr. GOSS, Mr. 

TIAHRT, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. CARTER, Mr. RENZI, Mr. BONILLA, Mr. 

GALLEGLY, Mr. GOODE, Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. YOUNG of Florida, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. 

DOOLITTLE, Mr. HERGER, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. 

OTTER, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. KLINE, Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota, 

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. 

LUCAS of Kentucky, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. EVERETT, Mr. UPTON, Mr. 

VITTER, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire, Ms. PRYCE

of Ohio, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. HENSARLING, Mrs. MUSGRAVE, 

Mrs. NORTHUP, Mr. SIMMONS, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, Mr. PETRI, Mr. 

KNOLLENBERG, Mr. MCINNIS, Mr. SHAW, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. BILI-
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RAKIS, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. 

NETHERCUTT, Mr. TANCREDO, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. GARRETT of 

New Jersey, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. TOOMEY, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. 

FORD, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. BURGESS, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. JOHN, Mr. 

BACHUS, Mr. HALL, Mr. BURNS, Mr. COX, Mr. BEAUPREZ, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. TERRY, Mr. CARDOZA, and Mr. STENHOLM

MARCH 5, 2004

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 

on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 27, 2003] 

A BILL

To prevent frivolous lawsuits against the manufacturers, distributors, or sellers of food or non-alcoholic beverage 

products that comply with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

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 leg8 islatures, and regulatory agencies to determine appropriate 

9 laws, rules, and regulations to address the problems of 

10 weight gain, obesity, and health conditions associated with 

11 weight gain or obesity. 
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1 SEC. 3. PRESERVATION OF SEPARATION OF POWERS. 

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

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

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

5 civil liability action that is pending on the date of the en6 actment of this Act shall be dismissed immediately by the 

7 court in which the action was brought or is currently pend8 ing. 

9 (c) DISCOVERY.—

10 (1) STAY.—In any qualified civil liability ac11 tion, all discovery and other proceedings shall be 

12 stayed during the pendency of any motion to dismiss 

13 unless the court finds upon motion of any party that 

14 particularized discovery is necessary to preserve evi15 dence or to prevent undue prejudice to that party. 

16 (2) RESPONSIBILITY OF PARTIES.—During the 

17 pendency of any stay of discovery under paragraph 

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

19 to the action with actual notice of the allegations con20 tained in the complaint shall treat all documents, 

21 data compilations (including electronically recorded 

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

23 custody or control of such person and that are rel24 evant to the allegations, as if they were the subject of 

25 a continuing request for production of documents 

26 from an opposing party under applicable Federal or 
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1 State rules of civil procedure, as the case may be. A 

2 party aggrieved by the willful failure of an opposing 

3 party to comply with this paragraph may apply to 

4 the court for an order awarding appropriate sanc5 tions. 

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

7 in section 4(5)(A), the complaint initiating such action 

8 shall state with particularity the Federal and State statutes 

9 that were allegedly violated and the facts that are alleged 

10 to have proximately caused the injury claimed. 

11 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

12 In this Act: 

13 (1) ENGAGED IN THE BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘en14 gaged in the business’’ means a person who manufac15 tures, markets, distributes, advertises, or sells a quali16 fied product in the person’s regular course of trade or 

17 business. 

18 (2) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘‘manufacturer’’ 

19 means, with respect to a qualified product, a person 

20 who is lawfully engaged in the business of manufac21 turing the product in interstate or foreign commerce. 

22 (3) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means any in23 dividual, corporation, company, association, firm, 

24 partnership, society, joint stock company, or any 

25 other entity, including any governmental entity. 
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1 (4) QUALIFIED PRODUCT.—The term ‘‘qualified 

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

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

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

5 (5) QUALIFIED CIVIL LIABILITY ACTION.—The 

6 term ‘‘qualified civil liability action’’ means a civil 

7 action brought by any person against a manufacturer 

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

9 for damages, penalties, declaratory judgment, injunc10 tive or declaratory relief, restitution, or other relief 

11 arising out of, related to, or resulting in injury or po12 tential injury resulting from a person’s consumption 

13 of a qualified product and weight gain, obesity, or 

14 any health condition that is associated with a per15 son’s weight gain or obesity, including an action 

16 brought by a person other than the person on whose 

17 weight gain, obesity, or health condition the action is 

18 based, and any derivative action brought by or on be19 half of any person or any representative, spouse, par20 ent, child, or other relative of any person, but shall 

21 not include—

22 (A) an action in which a manufacturer or 

23 seller of a qualified product knowingly and will24 fully violated a Federal or State statute applica25 ble to the manufacturing, marketing, distribu-
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1 tion, advertisement, labeling, or sale of the prod2 uct, and the violation was a proximate cause of 

3 injury related to a person’s weight gain, obesity, 

4 or any health condition associated with a per5 son’s weight gain or obesity; 

6 (B) an action for breach of express contract 

7 or express warranty in connection with the pur8 chase of a qualified product; or 

9 (C) an action regarding the sale of a quali10 fied product which is adulterated (as described 

11 in section 402 of the Federal Food, Drug, and 

12 Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 342)). 

13 (6) SELLER.—The term ‘‘seller’’ means, with re14 spect to a qualified product, a person lawfully en15 gaged in the business of marketing, distributing, ad16 vertising, or selling a qualified product in interstate 

17 or foreign commerce. 

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

19 the several States of the United States, the District of 

20 Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Vir21 gin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Com22 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and any 

23 other territory or possession of the United States, and 

24 any political subdivision of any such place. 
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1 (8) TRADE ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘‘trade asso2 ciation’’ means any association or business organiza3 tion (whether or not incorporated under Federal or 

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

5 more members of which are manufacturers, marketers, 

6 distributors, advertisers, or sellers of a qualified prod7 uct.

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill 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.’’.
Union Calendar No. 248

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 339

[Report No. 108–432] 

A BILL

To prevent frivolous lawsuits against the manufacturers, distributors, or sellers of food or non-alcoholic beverage products that comply with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements. 

MARCH 5, 2004

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee 

of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed