I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1100

To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for Federal jurisdiction

of certain multiparty, multiforum civil actions.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 24, 1993

Mr. HUGHES (for himself and Mr. MOORHEAD) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for Federal jurisdiction of certain multiparty, multiforum civil

actions.

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 ‘‘Multiparty,

5 Multiforum Jurisdiction Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. JURISDICTION OF DISTRICT COURTS.

7 (a) BASIS OF JURISDICTION.—Chapter 85 of title 28,

8 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the

9 following new section:
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1 ‘‘§ 1368. Multiparty, multiforum jurisdiction

2 ‘‘(a) The district courts shall have original jurisdic3 tion of any civil action involving minimal diversity between

4 adverse parties that arises from a single accident, where

5 at least 25 natural persons have either died or incurred

6 injury in the accident at a discrete location and, in the

7 case of injury, the injury has resulted in damages which

8 exceed $50,000 per person, exclusive of interest and costs,

9 if—

10 ‘‘(1) a defendant resides in a State and a sub11 stantial part of the accident took place in another

12 State or other location, regardless of whether that

13 defendant is also a resident of the State where a

14 substantial part of the accident took place;

15 ‘‘(2) any two defendants reside in different

16 States, regardless of whether such defendants are

17 also residents of the same State or States; or

18 ‘‘(3) substantial parts of the accident took place

19 in different States.

20 ‘‘(b) For purposes of this section—

21 ‘‘(1) minimal diversity exists between adverse

22 parties if any party is a citizen of a State and any

23 adverse party is a citizen of another State, a citizen

24 or subject of a foreign state, or a foreign state as

25 defined in section 1603(a) of this title;
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1 ‘‘(2) a corporation is deemed to be a citizen of

2 any State, and a citizen or subject of any foreign

3 state, in which it is incorporated or has its principal

4 place of business, and is deemed to be a resident of

5 any State in which it is incorporated or licensed to

6 do business or is doing business;

7 ‘‘(3) the term ‘injury’ means—

8 ‘‘(A) physical harm to a natural person;

9 and

10 ‘‘(B) physical damage to or destruction of

11 tangible property, but only if physical harm de12 scribed in subparagraph (A) exists;

13 ‘‘(4) the term ‘accident’ means a sudden acci14 dent, or a natural event culminating in an accident,

15 that results in death or injury incurred at a discrete

16 location by at least 25 natural persons; and

17 ‘‘(5) the term ‘State’ includes the District of

18 Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and

19 the territories or possessions of the United States.

20 ‘‘(c) In any action in a district court which is or could

21 have been brought, in whole or in part, under this section,

22 any person with a claim arising from the accident de23 scribed in subsection (a) shall be permitted to intervene

24 as a party plaintiff in the action, even if that person could
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1 not have brought an action in a district court as an origi2 nal matter.

3 ‘‘(d) A district court in which an action under this

4 section is pending shall promptly notify the judicial panel

5 on multidistrict litigation of the pendency of the action.’’.

6 (b) A CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec7 tions at the beginning of chapter 85 of title 28, United

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow9 ing new item:

‘‘1368. Multiparty, multiforum jurisdiction.’’.

10 SEC. 3. VENUE.

11 Section 1391 of title 28, United States Code, is

12 amended by adding at the end the following:

13 ‘‘(g) A civil action in which jurisdiction of the district

14 court is based upon section 1368 of this title may be

15 brought in any district in which any defendant resides or

16 in which a substantial part of the accident giving rise to

17 the action took place.’’.

18 SEC. 4. MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION.

19 Section 1407 of title 28, United States Code, is

20 amended by adding at the end the following:

21 ‘‘(i)(1) In actions transferred under this section when

22 jurisdiction is or could have been based, in whole or in

23 part, on section 1368 of this title, the transferee district

24 court may, notwithstanding any other provision of this

25 section, retain actions so transferred for the determination
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1 of liability and punitive damages. An action retained for

2 the determination of liability shall be remanded to the dis3 trict court from which the action was transferred, or to

4 the State court from which the action was removed, for

5 the determination of damages, other than punitive dam6 ages, unless the court finds, for the convenience of parties

7 and witnesses and in the interest of justice, that the action

8 should be retained for the determination of damages.

9 ‘‘(2) Any remand under paragraph (1) shall not be

10 effective until 60 days after the transferee court has is11 sued an order determining liability and has certified its

12 intention to remand some or all of the transferred actions

13 for the determination of damages. An appeal with respect

14 to the liability determination and the choice of law deter15 mination of the transferee court may be taken during that

16 60-day period to the court of appeals with appellate juris17 diction over the transferee court. In the event a party files

18 such an appeal, the remand shall not be effective until the

19 appeal has been finally disposed of. Once the remand has

20 become effective, the liability determination and the choice

21 of law determination shall not be subject to further review

22 by appeal or otherwise.

23 ‘‘(3) An appeal with respect to determination of puni24 tive damages by the transferee court may be taken, during

25 the 60-day period beginning on the date the order making
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1 the determination is issued, to the court of appeals with

2 jurisdiction over the transferee court.

3 ‘‘(4) Any decision under this subsection concerning

4 remand for the determination of damages shall not be

5 reviewable by appeal or otherwise.

6 ‘‘(5) Nothing in this subsection shall restrict the au7 thority of the transferee court to transfer or dismiss an

8 action on the ground of inconvenient forum.’’.

9 SEC. 5. REMOVAL OF ACTIONS.

10 Section 1441 of title 28, United States Code, is

11 amended—

12 (1) in subsection (e) by striking out ‘‘(e) The

13 court to which such civil action is removed’’ and in14 serting in lieu thereof ‘‘(f) The court to which a civil

15 action is removed under this section’’; and

16 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the follow17 ing new subsection;

18 (e)(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection

19 (b) of this section, a defendant in a civil action in a State

20 court may remove the action to the district court of the

21 United States for the district and division embracing the

22 place where the action is pending if—

23 ‘‘(A) the action could have been brought in a

24 United States district court under section 1368 of

25 this title, or
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1 ‘‘(B) the defendant is a party to an action

2 which is or could have been brought, in whole or in

3 part, under section 1368 in a United States district

4 court and arises from the same accident as the ac5 tion in State court, even if the action to be removed

6 could not have been brought in a district court as

7 an original matter.

8 The removal of an action under this subsection shall be

9 made in accordance with section 1446 of this title, except

10 that a notice of removal may also be filed before trial of

11 the action in State court within 30 days after the date

12 on which the defendant first becomes a party to an action

13 under section 1368 in a United States district court that

14 arises from the same accident as the action in State court,

15 or at a later time with leave of the district court.

16 ‘‘(2) Whenever an action is removed under this sub17 section and the district court to which it is removed or

18 transferred under section 1407(i) has made a liability de19 termination requiring further proceedings as to damages,

20 the district court shall remand the action to the State

21 court from which it had been removed for the determina22 tion of damages, unless the court finds that, for the con23 venience of parties and witnesses and in the interest of

24 justice, the action should be retained for the determination

25 of damages.
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1 ‘‘(3) Any remand under paragraph (2) shall not be

2 effective until 60 days after the district court has issued

3 an order determining liability and has certified its inten4 tion to remand the removed action for the determination

5 of damages. An appeal with respect to the liability deter6 mination and the choice of law determination of the dis7 trict court may be taken during that 60-day period to the

8 court of appeals with appellate jurisdiction over the dis9 trict court. In the event a party files such an appeal, the

10 remand shall not be effective until the appeal has been

11 finally disposed of. Once the remand has become effective,

12 the liability determination and the choice of law deter13 mination shall not be subject to further review by appeal

14 or otherwise.

15 ‘‘(4) Any decision under this subsection concerning

16 remand for the determination of damages shall not be

17 reviewable by appeal or otherwise.

18 ‘‘(5) An action removed under this subsection shall

19 be deemed to be an action under section 1368 and an ac20 tion in which jurisdiction is based on section 1368 of this

21 title for purposes of this section and sections 1407, 1659,

22 1697, and 1785 of this title.

23 ‘‘(6) Nothing in this subsection shall restrict the au24 thority of the district court to transfer or dismiss an ac25 tion on the ground of inconvenient forum.’’.
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1 SEC. 6. CHOICE OF LAW.

2 (a) DETERMINATION BY THE COURT.—Chapter 111

3 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at

4 the end the following new section:

5 § 1659. Choice of law in multiparty, multiforum ac6 tions

7 ‘‘(a) In an action which is or could have been

8 brought, in whole or in part, under section 1368 of this

9 title, the district court in which the action is brought or

10 to which it is removed shall determine the source of the

11 applicable substantive law, except that if an action is

12 transferred to another district court, the transferee court

13 shall determine the source of the applicable substantive

14 law. In making this determination, a district court shall

15 not be bound by the choice of law rules of any State, and

16 the factors that the court may consider in choosing the

17 applicable law include—

18 ‘‘(1) the place of the injury;

19 ‘‘(2) the place of the conduct causing the in20 jury;

21 ‘‘(3) the principal places of business or

22 domiciles of the parties;

23 ‘‘(4) the danger of creating unnecessary incen24 tives for forum shopping; and

25 ‘‘(5) whether the choice of law would be reason26 ably foreseeable to the parties.
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1 The factors set forth in paragraphs (1) through (5) shall

2 be evaluated according to their relative importance with

3 respect to the particular action. If good cause is shown

4 in exceptional cases, including constitutional reasons, the

5 court may allow the law of more than one State to be ap6 plied with respect to a party, claim, or other element of

7 an action.

8 ‘‘(b) The district court making the determination

9 under subsection (a) shall enter an order designating the

10 single jurisdiction whose substantive law is to be applied

11 in all other actions under section 1368 arising from the

12 same accident as that giving rise to the action in which

13 the determination is made. The substantive law of the des14 ignated jurisdiction shall be applied to the parties and

15 claims in all such actions before the court, and to all other

16 elements of each action, except where Federal law applies

17 or the order specifically provides for the application of the

18 law of another jurisdiction with respect to a party, claim,

19 or other element of an action.

20 ‘‘(c) In an action remanded to another district court

21 or a State court under section 1407(i)(1) or 1441(e)(2)

22 of this title, the district court’s choice of law under sub23 section (b) shall continue to apply.’’.

24 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec25 tions at the beginning of chapter 111 of title 28, United
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1 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow2 ing new item:

‘‘1659. Choice of law in multiparty, multiforum actions.’’.

3 SEC. 7. SERVICE OF PROCESS.

4 (a) OTHER THAN SUBPOENAS.—(1) Chapter 113 of

5 title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the

6 end the following new section:

7 ‘‘§ 1697. Service in multiparty, multiforum actions

8 ‘‘When the jurisdiction of the district court is based

9 in whole or in part upon section 1368 of this title, process,

10 other than subpoenas, may be served at any place within

11 the United States, or anywhere outside the United States

12 if otherwise permitted by law.’’.

13 (2) The table of sections at the beginning of chapter

14 113 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding

15 at the end the following new item:

‘‘1697. Service in multiparty, multiforum actions.’’.

16 (b) SERVICE OF SUBPOENAS.—(1) Chapter 117 of

17 title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the

18 end the following new section:

19 ‘‘§ 1785. Subpoenas in multiparty, multiforum actions

20 ‘‘When the jurisdiction of the district court is based

21 in whole or in part upon section 1368 of this title, a sub22 poena for attendance at a hearing or trial may, if author23 ized by the court upon motion for good cause shown, and

24 upon such terms and conditions as the court may impose,
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1 be served at any place within the United States, or any2 where outside the United States if otherwise permitted by

3 law.’’.

4 (2) The table of sections at the beginning of chapter

5 117 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding

6 at the end the following new item:

‘‘1785. Subpoenas in multiparty, multiforum actions.’’.

7 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.

8 The amendments made by this Act shall apply to a

9 civil action if the accident giving rise to the cause of action

10 occurred on or after the 90th day after the date of the

11 enactment of this Act.

Æ