HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

361

1995 T41.24

Mica

Miller (CA)

Miller (FL)

Moorhead

Neumann

Norwood

Orton

Oxley

Packard

Parker

Paxon

Payne (VA)

Peterson (MN)

Petri

Pombo

Pomeroy

Porter

Portman

Pryce

Regula

Roberts

Rogers

Rohrabacher

Roth

Royce

Sabo

Salmon

Sanford

Saxton

Scarborough

Schaefer

Schumer

Seastrand

Sensenbrenner

Shaw

Shuster

Skeen

Smith (MI)

Smith (TX)

Smith (WA)

Solomon

Souder

Spence

Stenholm

Stump

Talent

Tanner

Tauzin

Taylor (NC)

Thomas

Thornberry

Thurman

Towns

Upton

Vucanovich

Walker

Watts (OK)

Weldon (FL)

Weller

Williams

Wolf

Young (FL)

Zimmer

NOES—265

Abercrombie

Ackerman

Allard

Bachus

Baesler

Baker (LA)

Baldacci

Barcia

Barrett (WI)

Bass

Bateman

Becerra

Beilenson

Bentsen

Berman

Bilirakis

Bishop

Blute

Boehlert

Bonior

Bono

Borski

Boucher

Brewster

Brown (CA)

Brown (FL)

Brown (OH)

Bryant (TX)

Bunning

Burr

Burton

Callahan

Canady

Cardin

Castle

Chabot

Chambliss

Chapman

Clay

Clayton

Clement

Clinger

Clyburn

Coble

Coleman

Collins (IL)

Collins (MI)

Combest

Conyers

Cooley

Costello

Coyne

Cramer

Crapo

Danner

Davis

de la Garza

DeFazio

DeLauro

Dellums

Deutsch

Diaz-Balart

Dickey

Dicks

Dingell

Dixon

Dooley

Doyle

Duncan

Durbin

Edwards

Engel

Ensign

Eshoo

Evans

Everett

Farr

Fattah

Fazio

Fields (LA)

Filner

Flake

Foglietta

Foley

Ford

Fox

Frank (MA)

Franks (CT)

Franks (NJ)

Frelinghuysen

Frost

Furse

Gejdenson

Gekas

Gephardt

Gilman

Gonzalez

Gordon

Graham

Green

Gutierrez

Hall (OH)

Hall (TX)

Hamilton

Hansen

Harman

Hastings (FL)

Hayes

Hefner

Herger

Hilliard

Hinchey

Hoekstra

Holden

Horn

Hoyer

Hutchinson

Istook

Jackson-Lee

Jefferson

Johnson (CT)

Johnson (SD)

Johnson, E. B.

Johnston

Kaptur

Kelly

Kennedy (MA)

Kennedy (RI)

Kennelly

Kildee

King

Kleczka

Klink

LaHood

Lantos

Largent

Latham

LaTourette

Lazio

Levin

Lewis (CA)

Lewis (GA)

Lightfoot

Lipinski

Livingston

LoBiondo

Lofgren

Longley

Lowey

Lucas

Manton

Manzullo

Markey

Martini

Mascara

Matsui

McCarthy

McDade

McDermott

McHale

McHugh

McIntosh

McKinney

Meehan

Meek

Menendez

Meyers

Mfume

Mineta

Minge

Mink

Moakley

Molinari

Mollohan

Montgomery

Moran

Morella

Murtha

Myers

Myrick

Nadler

Neal

Nethercutt

Ney

Nussle

Oberstar

Obey

Olver

Ortiz

Owens

Pallone

Pastor

Payne (NJ)

Pelosi

Peterson (FL)

Pickett

Poshard

Quillen

Quinn

Radanovich

Rahall

Ramstad

Reed

Reynolds

Richardson

Riggs

Rivers

Roemer

Ros-Lehtinen

Rose

Roukema

Roybal-Allard

Rush

Sanders

Sawyer

Schiff

Schroeder

Scott

Serrano

Shadegg

Shays

Sisisky

Skaggs

Skelton

Slaughter

Smith (NJ)

Spratt

Stark

Stearns

Stockman

Stokes

Studds

Stupak

Tate

Taylor (MS)

Tejeda

Thompson

Thornton

Torkildsen

Torres

Torricelli

Traficant

Tucker

Velazquez

Vento

Visclosky

Volkmer

Waldholtz

Walsh

Wamp

Waters

Watt (NC)

Waxman

Weldon (PA)

White

Whitfield

Wicker

Wilson

Wise

Woolsey

Wyden

Wynn

Yates

Young (AK)

Zeliff

NOT VOTING—7

Cubin

Forbes

Gibbons

Hayworth

Rangel

Tiahrt

Ward

So the amendment was not to.

After some further time,

T41.24 RECORDED VOTE

A recorded vote by electronic device

was ordered in the Committee of the

Whole on the following amendment

submitted by Mr. COX:

Page 1, strike line 7 and all that follows

through the matter that precedes line 1 on

page 2, and insert the following:

(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.

Sec. 2. Findings and purposes.

TITLE I—PRODUCT LIABILITY REFORM

Sec. 101. Applicability.

Sec. 102. Liability rules applicable to product

sellers.

Sec. 103. Defense based on claimant’s use of

intoxicating alcohol or drugs.

Sec. 104. Misuse or alteration.

Sec. 105. Frivolous pleadings.

Sec. 106. Several liability for noneconomic

loss.

Sec. 107. Statute of repose.

Sec. 108. Definitions.

TITLE II—LIMITATION ON SPECULATIVE

AND ARBITRARY DAMAGE AWARDS

Sec. 201. Treble damages as penalty in civil

actions.

Sec. 202. Limitation on additional payments

beyond actual damages.

Sec. 203. Fair share rule for noneconomic

damage awards.

Sec. 204. Definitions.

TITLE III—BIOMATERIALS SUPPLIERS

Sec. 301. Liability of biomaterials suppliers.

Sec. 302. Procedures for dismissal of civil actions against biomaterials suppliers.

Sec. 303. Definitions.

TITLE IV—LIMITATIONS ON

APPLICABILITY; EFFECTIVE DATE

Sec. 401. Application limited to interstate

commerce.

Sec. 402. Effect on other law.

Sec. 403. Federal cause of action precluded.

Sec. 404. Effective date.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

(1) the civil justice system, which is designed to safeguard our most cherished

rights, to remedy injustices, and to defend

our liberty, is increasingly being deployed to

abridge our rights, create injustice, and destroy our liberty;

(2) our Nation is overly litigious, the civil

justice system is overcrowded, sluggish, and

excessively costly, and the costs of lawsuits,

both direct and indirect, are inflicting serious and unnecessary injury on the national

economy;

(3) excessive, unpredictable, and often arbitrary damage awards and unfair allocations

of liability have a direct and undesirable effect on interstate commerce by increasing

the cost and decreasing the availability of

goods and services;

(4) the rules of law governing product liability actions, damage awards, and allocations of liability have evolved inconsistently

within and among the several States, resulting in a complex, contradictory, and uncertain regime that is inequitable to both plaintiffs and defendants and unduly burdens

interstate commerce;

(5) as a result of excessive, unpredictable,

and often arbitrary damage awards and unfair allocations of liability, consumers have

been adversely affected through the withdrawal of products, producers, services, and

service providers from the national market,

and from excessive liability costs passed on

to them through higher prices;

(6) excessive, unpredictable, and often arbitrary damage awards and unfair allocations

of liability jeopardize the financial wellbeing of many individuals as well as entire

industries, particularly the Nation’s small

businesses, and adversely affects governments, taxpayers, nonprofit entities and volunteer organizations;

(7) the excessive costs of the civil justice

system undermine the ability of American

companies to compete internationally, and

serve to decrease the number of jobs and the

amount of productive capital in the national

economy;

(8) the unpredictability of damage awards

is inequitable to both plaintiffs and defendants and has added considerably to the high

cost of liability insurance, making it difficult for producers, consumers, and individuals to protect their liability with any degree of confidence and at a reasonable cost;

(9) because of the national scope of the

problems crated by the defects in the civil

justice system, it is not possible for the several States to enact laws that fully and effectively respond to those problems;

(10) it is the constitutional role of the national government to remove barriers to

interstate commerce; and

(11) there is need to restore rationality,

certainty, and fairness to the civil justice

system in order to protect against excessive,

arbitrary, and uncertain damage awards and

to reduce the volume, costs, and delay of litigation.

(b) PURPOSES.—Based upon the powers contained in Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the

United States Constitution, the purposes of

this Act are to promote the free flow of

goods and services and to lessen burdens on

interstate commerce by—

(1) establishing certain uniform legal principles of product liability which provide a

fair balance among the interests which provide a fair balance among the interests of

product users, manufacturers, and product

sellers;

(2) placing reasonable limits on damages

over and above the actual damages suffered

by a claimant;

(3) ensuring the fair allocation of liability

in civil actions;

(4) reducing the unacceptable costs and

delays of our civil justice system caused by

excessive litigation which harm both plaintiffs and defendants; and

(5) establishing greater fairness, rationality, and predictability in the civil justice

system.

Page 2, strike line 3 and all that follows

through line 24, and page 4 (and redesignate

subsequent sections accordingly).

Page 11, strike lines 17 through 24 (and redesignate subsequent sections accordingly).

Page 12, strike line 24 and all that follows

through line 2 on page 13 (and redesignate

the subsequent section accordingly).

Page 17, strike lines 10 through 12 and insert the following:
JOURNAL OF THE

362

T41.25 MARCH 9

TITLE II—LIMITATION ON SPECULATIVE

AND ARBITRARY DAMAGE AWARDS

SEC. 201. TREBLE DAMAGES AS PENALTY IN

CIVIL ACTIONS.

Page 17, line 21, insert ‘‘rights or’’ before

‘‘safety’’.

Page 17, beginning in line 25, strike ‘‘for

the economic loss on which the claimant’s

action is based’’ and insert ‘‘for economic

loss’’.

Page 18, insert after the period in line 2 the

following: ‘‘This section shall be applied by

the court and shall not be disclosed to the

jury.’’.

Page 18, line 3, strike ‘‘AND PREEMPTION’’.

Page 18, strike ‘‘title’’ in lines 4 and 6 and

insert ‘‘section’’.

Page 18, beginning in line 7, strike ‘‘in any

jurisdiction that does not authorize such actions’’ and insert after the period in line 8

the following: ‘‘This section does not preempt or supersede any State or Federal law

to the extent that such law would further

limit the award of punitive damages.’’.

Page 19, after line 19, insert the following

new sections (and redesignate the subsequent

section accordingly):

SEC. 202. FAIR SHARE RULE FOR NONECONOMIC

DAMAGE AWARDS.

(a) FAIR SHARE OF LIABILITY IMPOSED ACCORDING TO SHARE OF FAULT.—In any product

liability or other civil action brought in

State or Federal court, a defendant shall be

liable only for the amount of noneconomic

damages attributable to such defendant in

direct proportion to such defendant’s share

of fault or responsibility for the claimant’s

actual damages, as determined by the trier

of fact. In all such cases, the liability of a defendant for noneconomic damages shall be

several and not joint.

(b) APPLICABILITY.—Except as provided in

section 401, this section shall apply to any

product liability or other civil action

brought in any Federal or State court on any

theory where noneconomic damages are

sought. This section does not preempt or supersede any State or Federal law to the extent that such law would further limit the

application of the theory of joint liability to

any kind of damages.

Page 19, after line 21, insert the following

new paragraph:

(1) The term ‘‘actual damages’’ means

damages awarded to pay for economic loss.

Page 19, line 22, strike ‘‘(1)’’ and insert

‘‘(2)’’.

Page 20, line 4, strike ‘‘(2)’’ and insert

‘‘(3)’’.

Page 20, line 12, strike ‘‘(3)’’ and insert

‘‘(4)’’.

Page 20, line 18, strike ‘‘(4)’’ and insert

‘‘(5)’’.

Page 20, after line 20, insert the following

new paragraph (and redesignate subsequent

paragraphs accordingly):

(6) The term ‘‘noneconomic damages’’

means damages other than punitive damages

or actual damages.

Page 20, line 21, strike ‘‘(5)’’ and insert

‘‘(7)’’.

Page 21, line 1, strike ‘‘(6)’’ and insert

‘‘(8)’’.

Page 30, strike lines 6 and 7, and insert the

following:

TITLE IV—LIMITATIONS ON

APPLICABILITY; EFFECTIVE DATE

SEC. 401. APPLICATION LIMITED TO INTERSTATE

COMMERCE.

Titles I, II, and III shall apply only to

product liability or other civil actions affecting interstate commerce. For purposes of

the preceding sentence, the term ‘‘interstate

commerce’’ means commerce among the several States or with foreign nations, or in any

territory of the United States or in the District of Columbia, or between any such territory and another, or between any such territory and any State or foreign nation, or between the District of Columbia and any

State or territory or foreign nation.

Redesignate subsequent sections accordingly.

It was decided in the Yeas ....... 263 ! affirmative ................... Nays ...... 164

T41.25 [Roll No. 225]

AYES—263

Allard

Archer

Armey

Bachus

Baesler

Baker (CA)

Baker (LA)

Baldacci

Ballenger

Barcia

Barr

Barrett (NE)

Bartlett

Barton

Bass

Bereuter

Bilbray

Bilirakis

Bliley

Blute

Boehlert

Boehner

Bonilla

Bono

Brewster

Browder

Brownback

Bryant (TN)

Bunn

Bunning

Burr

Burton

Buyer

Callahan

Calvert

Camp

Canady

Cardin

Castle

Chabot

Chambliss

Chenoweth

Christensen

Chrysler

Clement

Clinger

Coburn

Collins (GA)

Combest

Condit

Cooley

Cox

Cramer

Crane

Crapo

Cremeans

Cunningham

Danner

Davis

Deal

DeLay

Dickey

Dicks

Dooley

Doolittle

Dornan

Dreier

Duncan

Dunn

Edwards

Ehlers

Ehrlich

Emerson

English

Ensign

Everett

Ewing

Fawell

Fazio

Fields (TX)

Flanagan

Foley

Fowler

Franks (CT)

Franks (NJ)

Frelinghuysen

Frisa

Funderburk

Gallegly

Ganske

Gekas

Geren

Gilchrest

Gillmor

Gilman

Goodlatte

Goodling

Gordon

Goss

Graham

Greenwood

Gunderson

Gutknecht

Hall (TX)

Hamilton

Hancock

Hansen

Harman

Hastert

Hastings (WA)

Hayworth

Hefley

Heineman

Herger

Hilleary

Hobson

Hoekstra

Hoke

Holden

Horn

Hostettler

Houghton

Hunter

Hutchinson

Hyde

Inglis

Johnson (CT)

Johnson, Sam

Jones

Kasich

Kelly

Kennelly

Kim

King

Kingston

Klug

Knollenberg

Kolbe

LaHood

Largent

Latham

LaTourette

Lazio

Leach

Lewis (CA)

Lewis (KY)

Lightfoot

Lincoln

Linder

Livingston

LoBiondo

Longley

Lucas

Maloney

Manzullo

McCarthy

McCollum

McCrery

McDade

McHugh

McInnis

McIntosh

McKeon

McNulty

Metcalf

Meyers

Mica

Miller (CA)

Miller (FL)

Molinari

Montgomery

Moorhead

Morella

Myers

Myrick

Neal

Nethercutt

Neumann

Ney

Norwood

Nussle

Ortiz

Packard

Parker

Paxon

Payne (VA)

Peterson (MN)

Petri

Pombo

Pomeroy

Porter

Portman

Pryce

Quillen

Quinn

Radanovich

Ramstad

Regula

Richardson

Riggs

Roberts

Roemer

Rogers

Rohrabacher

Ros-Lehtinen

Roth

Roukema

Royce

Salmon

Sanford

Saxton

Scarborough

Schaefer

Schumer

Seastrand

Sensenbrenner

Shadegg

Shaw

Shays

Shuster

Sisisky

Skeen

Smith (MI)

Smith (NJ)

Smith (TX)

Smith (WA)

Solomon

Souder

Spence

Stearns

Stenholm

Stockman

Stump

Talent

Tanner

Tate

Taylor (MS)

Taylor (NC)

Tejeda

Thomas

Thornberry

Tiahrt

Torkildsen

Torricelli

Traficant

Upton

Vucanovich

Waldholtz

Walker

Walsh

Wamp

Watts (OK)

Weldon (FL)

Weldon (PA)

Weller

White

Whitfield

Wicker

Wolf

Young (AK)

Young (FL)

Zeliff

Zimmer

NOES—164

Abercrombie

Ackerman

Andrews

Barrett (WI)

Bateman

Becerra

Beilenson

Bentsen

Berman

Bevill

Bishop

Bonior

Borski

Boucher

Brown (CA)

Brown (FL)

Brown (OH)

Bryant (TX)

Chapman

Clay

Clayton

Clyburn

Coble

Coleman

Collins (IL)

Collins (MI)

Conyers

Costello

Coyne

de la Garza

DeFazio

DeLauro

Dellums

Deutsch

Diaz-Balart

Dingell

Dixon

Doggett

Doyle

Durbin

Engel

Eshoo

Evans

Farr

Fattah

Fields (LA)

Filner

Flake

Foglietta

Ford

Fox

Frank (MA)

Frost

Furse

Gejdenson

Gephardt

Gonzalez

Green

Gutierrez

Hall (OH)

Hastings (FL)

Hayes

Hefner

Hilliard

Hinchey

Hoyer

Istook

Jackson-Lee

Jacobs

Jefferson

Johnson (SD)

Johnson, E. B.

Johnston

Kanjorski

Kaptur

Kennedy (MA)

Kennedy (RI)

Kildee

Kleczka

Klink

LaFalce

Lantos

Laughlin

Levin

Lewis (GA)

Lipinski

Lofgren

Lowey

Luther

Manton

Markey

Martinez

Martini

Mascara

Matsui

McDermott

McHale

McKinney

Meehan

Meek

Menendez

Mfume

Mineta

Minge

Mink

Moakley

Mollohan

Moran

Nadler

Oberstar

Obey

Olver

Orton

Oxley

Pallone

Pastor

Payne (NJ)

Pelosi

Peterson (FL)

Pickett

Poshard

Rahall

Reed

Reynolds

Rivers

Rose

Roybal-Allard

Rush

Sabo

Sanders

Sawyer

Schiff

Schroeder

Scott

Serrano

Skaggs

Skelton

Slaughter

Spratt

Stark

Stokes

Studds

Stupak

Tauzin

Thompson

Thornton

Thurman

Torres

Towns

Velazquez

Vento

Visclosky

Volkmer

Ward

Waters

Watt (NC)

Waxman

Williams

Wilson

Wise

Woolsey

Wyden

Wynn

Yates

NOT VOTING—7

Cubin

Forbes

Gibbons

Murtha

Owens

Rangel

Tucker

So the amendment was agreed to.

After some further time,

T41.26 RECORDED VOTE

A recorded vote by electronic device

was ordered in the Committee of the

Whole on the following amendment

submitted by Mr. COX:

Page 19 redesignate section 202 as section

203 and after line 19 insert the following:

SEC. 202. LIMITATION ON NONECONOMIC DAMAGES IN HEALTH CARE LIABILITY

ACTIONS.

(a) MAXIMUM AWARD OF NONECONOMIC DAMAGES.—In any health care liability action, in

addition to actual damages or punitive damages, or both, a claimant may also be awarded noneconomic damages, including damages

awarded to compensate injured feelings, such

as pain and suffering and emotional distress.

The maximum amount of such damages that

may be awarded to a claimant shall be

$250,000. Such maximum amount shall apply

regardless of the number of parties against

whom the action is brought, and regardless

of the number of claims or actions brought

with respect to the health care injury. An

award for future noneconomic damages shall

not be discounted to present value. The jury

shall not be informed about the limitation

on noneconomic damages, but an award for

noneconomic damages in excess of $250,000

shall be reduced either before the entry of