109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 554

AN ACT

To prevent legislative and regulatory functions from 

tion associated with weight gain or obesity. son’s weight gain, obesity, or any health condiassociations for claims of injury relating to a perers, distributors, advertisers, sellers, and trade continued against food manufacturers, marketbeing usurped by civil liability actions brought or 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 554

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.
2

•HR 554 EH 

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 of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

8 (1) the food and beverage industries are a sig9 nificant part of our national economy; 

10 (2) the activities of manufacturers and sellers 

11 of foods and beverages substantially affect interstate 

12 and foreign commerce; 

13 (3) a person’s weight gain, obesity, or a health 

14 condition associated with a person’s weight gain or 

15 obesity is based on a multitude of factors, including 

16 genetic factors and the lifestyle and physical fitness 

17 decisions of individuals, such that a person’s weight 

18 gain, obesity, or a health condition associated with 

19 a person’s weight gain or obesity cannot be attrib20 uted to the consumption of any specific food or bev21 erage; and 

22 (4) because fostering a culture of acceptance of 

23 personal responsibility is one of the most important 

24 ways to promote a healthier society, lawsuits seeking 

25 to blame individual food and beverage providers for 
3

•HR 554 EH 

1 a person’s weight gain, obesity, or a health condition 

2 associated with a person’s weight gain or obesity are 

3 not only legally frivolous and economically dam4 aging, but also harmful to a healthy America. 

5 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to allow 

6 Congress and regulatory agencies to determine appro7 priate laws, rules, and regulations to address the problems 

8 of weight gain, obesity, and health conditions associated 

9 with weight gain or obesity. 

10 SEC. 3. PRESERVATION OF SEPARATION OF POWERS. 

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

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

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

14 civil liability action that is pending on the date of the en15 actment of this Act shall be dismissed immediately by the 

16 court in which the action was brought or is currently pend17 ing. 

18 (c) DISCOVERY.—

19 (1) STAY.—In any action that is allegedly of 

20 the type described in section 4(5) seeking to impose 

21 liability of any kind based on accumulative acts of 

22 consumption of a qualified product, the obligation of 

23 any party or non-party to make disclosures of any 

24 kind under any applicable rule or order, or to re25 spond to discovery requests of any kind, as well as 
4

•HR 554 EH 

1 all proceedings unrelated to a motion to dismiss, 

2 shall be stayed prior to the time for filing a motion 

3 to dismiss and during the pendency of any such mo4 tion, unless the court finds upon motion of any 

5 party that a response to a particularized discovery 

6 request is necessary to preserve evidence or to pre7 vent undue prejudice to that party. 

8 (2) RESPONSIBILITY OF PARTIES.—During the 

9 pendency of any stay of discovery under paragraph 

10 (1), the responsibilities of the parties with regard to 

11 the treatment of all documents, data compilations 

12 (including electronically recorded or stored data), 

13 and tangible objects shall be governed by applicable 

14 Federal or State rules of civil procedure. A party ag15 grieved by the failure of an opposing party to comply 

16 with this paragraph shall have the applicable rem17 edies made available by such applicable rules, pro18 vided that no remedy shall be afforded that conflicts 

19 with the terms of paragraph (1). 

20 (d) PLEADINGS.—In any action that is allegedly of 

21 the type described in section 4(5) seeking to impose liabil22 ity of any kind based on accumulative acts of consumption 

23 of a qualified product, the complaint initiating such action 

24 shall state with particularity for each defendant and cause 

25 of action—
5

•HR 554 EH 

1 (1) each element of the cause of action and the 

2 specific facts alleged to satisfy each element of the 

3 cause of action; 

4 (2) the Federal and State statutes or other laws 

5 that allegedly create the cause of action; and 

6 (3) the section 4(5)(B) exception being relied 

7 upon and the specific facts that allegedly satisfy the 

8 requirements of that exception. 

9 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—No provision of this 

10 Act shall be construed to create a public or private cause 

11 of action or remedy. 

12 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

13 In this Act: 

14 (1) ENGAGED IN THE BUSINESS.—The term 

15 ‘‘engaged in the business’’ means a person who man16 ufactures, markets, distributes, advertises, or sells a 

17 qualified product in the person’s regular course of 

18 trade or business. 

19 (2) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘‘manufac20 turer’’ means, with respect to a qualified product, a 

21 person who is lawfully engaged in the business of 

22 manufacturing the product. 

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

24 individual, corporation, company, association, firm, 
6

•HR 554 EH 

1 partnership, society, joint stock company, or any 

2 other entity, including any governmental entity. 

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

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

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

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

7 (5) QUALIFIED CIVIL LIABILITY ACTION.—

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara9 graph (B), the term ‘‘qualified civil liability ac10 tion’’ means a civil action brought by any per11 son against a manufacturer, marketer, dis12 tributor, advertiser, or seller of a qualified 

13 product, or a trade association, for damages, 

14 penalties, declaratory judgment, injunctive or 

15 declaratory relief, restitution, or other relief 

16 arising out of, or related to a person’s accumu17 lated acts of consumption of a qualified product 

18 and weight gain, obesity, or a health condition 

19 that is associated with a person’s weight gain or 

20 obesity, including an action brought by a person 

21 other than the person on whose weight gain, 

22 obesity, or health condition the action is based, 

23 and any derivative action brought by or on be24 half of any person or any representative, 
7

•HR 554 EH 

1 spouse, parent, child, or other relative of that 

2 person. 

3 (B) EXCEPTION.—A qualified civil liability 

4 action shall not include—

5 (i) an action based on allegations of 

6 breach of express contract or express war7 ranty, provided that the grounds for recov8 ery being alleged in such action are unre9 lated to a person’s weight gain, obesity, or 

10 a health condition associated with a per11 son’s weight gain or obesity; 

12 (ii) an action based on allegations 

13 that—

14 (I) a manufacturer or seller of a 

15 qualified product knowingly violated a 

16 Federal or State statute applicable to 

17 the marketing, advertisement, or la18 beling of the qualified product with in19 tent for a person to rely on that viola20 tion; 

21 (II) such person individually and 

22 justifiably relied on that violation; and 

23 (III) such reliance was the proxi24 mate cause of injury related to that 

25 person’s weight gain, obesity, or a 
8

•HR 554 EH 

1 health condition associated with that 

2 person’s weight gain or obesity; or 

3 (iii) an action brought by the Federal 

4 Trade Commission under the Federal 

5 Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et 

6 seq.) or by the Federal Food and Drug 

7 Administration under the Federal Food, 

8 Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et 

9 seq.). 

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

11 respect to a qualified product, a person lawfully en12 gaged in the business of marketing, distributing, ad13 vertising, or selling a qualified product. 

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

15 the several States of the United States, the District 

16 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 

17 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the 

18 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 

19 and any other territory or possession of the United 

20 States, and any political subdivision of any such 

21 place. 

22 (8) TRADE ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘‘trade as23 sociation’’ means any association or business organi24 zation (whether or not incorporated under Federal 

25 or State law) that is not operated for profit, and 2 
9

•HR 554 EH 

1 or more members of which are manufacturers, mar2 keters, distributors, advertisers, or sellers of a quali3 fied product.

Passed the House of Representatives October 19, 

2005. 

Attest:

Clerk.