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Calendar No. 254 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 554 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 20, 2005 

Received; read the first time 

OCTOBER 21, 2005 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 

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. 

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’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

3 (1) the food and beverage industries are a sig4 nificant part of our national economy; 

5 (2) the activities of manufacturers and sellers 

6 of foods and beverages substantially affect interstate 

7 and foreign commerce; 

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

9 condition associated with a person’s weight gain or 

10 obesity is based on a multitude of factors, including 

11 genetic factors and the lifestyle and physical fitness 

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

13 gain, obesity, or a health condition associated with 

14 a person’s weight gain or obesity cannot be attrib15 uted to the consumption of any specific food or bev16 erage; and 

17 (4) because fostering a culture of acceptance of 

18 personal responsibility is one of the most important 

19 ways to promote a healthier society, lawsuits seeking 

20 to blame individual food and beverage providers for 

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

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

23 not only legally frivolous and economically dam24 aging, but also harmful to a healthy America. 

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

26 Congress and regulatory agencies to determine appro-
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1 priate laws, rules, and regulations to address the problems 

2 of weight gain, obesity, and health conditions associated 

3 with weight gain or obesity. 

4 SEC. 3. PRESERVATION OF SEPARATION OF POWERS. 

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

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

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

8 civil liability action that is pending on the date of the en9 actment of this Act shall be dismissed immediately by the 

10 court in which the action was brought or is currently pend11 ing. 

12 (c) DISCOVERY.— 

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

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

15 liability of any kind based on accumulative acts of 

16 consumption of a qualified product, the obligation of 

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

18 kind under any applicable rule or order, or to re19 spond to discovery requests of any kind, as well as 

20 all proceedings unrelated to a motion to dismiss, 

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

22 to dismiss and during the pendency of any such mo23 tion, unless the court finds upon motion of any 

24 party that a response to a particularized discovery 
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HR 554 PCS 

1 request 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), the responsibilities of the parties with regard to 

6 the treatment of all documents, data compilations 

7 (including electronically recorded or stored data), 

8 and tangible objects shall be governed by applicable 

9 Federal or State rules of civil procedure. A party ag10 grieved by the failure of an opposing party to comply 

11 with this paragraph shall have the applicable rem12 edies made available by such applicable rules, pro13 vided that no remedy shall be afforded that conflicts 

14 with the terms of paragraph (1). 

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

16 the type described in section 4(5) seeking to impose liabil17 ity of any kind based on accumulative acts of consumption 

18 of a qualified product, the complaint initiating such action 

19 shall state with particularity for each defendant and cause 

20 of action— 

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

22 specific facts alleged to satisfy each element of the 

23 cause of action; 

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

25 that allegedly create the cause of action; and 
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1 (3) the section 4(5)(B) exception being relied 

2 upon and the specific facts that allegedly satisfy the 

3 requirements of that exception. 

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

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

6 of action or remedy. 

7 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 

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

10 ‘‘engaged in the business’’ means a person who man11 ufactures, markets, distributes, advertises, or sells a 

12 qualified product in the person’s regular course of 

13 trade or business. 

14 (2) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘‘manufac15 turer’’ means, with respect to a qualified product, a 

16 person who is lawfully engaged in the business of 

17 manufacturing the product. 

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

19 individual, corporation, company, association, firm, 

20 partnership, society, joint stock company, or any 

21 other entity, including any governmental entity. 

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

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

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

25 U.S.C. 321(f))). 
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1 (5) QUALIFIED CIVIL LIABILITY ACTION.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara3 graph (B), the term ‘‘qualified civil liability ac4 tion’’ means a civil action brought by any per5 son against a manufacturer, marketer, dis6 tributor, advertiser, or seller of a qualified 

7 product, or a trade association, for damages, 

8 penalties, declaratory judgment, injunctive or 

9 declaratory relief, restitution, or other relief 

10 arising out of, or related to a person’s accumu11 lated acts of consumption of a qualified product 

12 and weight gain, obesity, or a health condition 

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

14 obesity, including an action brought by a person 

15 other than the person on whose weight gain, 

16 obesity, or health condition the action is based, 

17 and any derivative action brought by or on be18 half of any person or any representative, 

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

20 person. 

21 (B) EXCEPTION.—A qualified civil liability 

22 action shall not include— 

23 (i) an action based on allegations of 

24 breach of express contract or express war25 ranty, provided that the grounds for recov-
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1 ery being alleged in such action are unre2 lated to a person’s weight gain, obesity, or 

3 a health condition associated with a per4 son’s weight gain or obesity; 

5 (ii) an action based on allegations 

6 that— 

7 (I) a manufacturer or seller of a 

8 qualified product knowingly violated a 

9 Federal or State statute applicable to 

10 the marketing, advertisement, or la11 beling of the qualified product with in12 tent for a person to rely on that viola13 tion; 

14 (II) such person individually and 

15 justifiably relied on that violation; and 

16 (III) such reliance was the proxi17 mate cause of injury related to that 

18 person’s weight gain, obesity, or a 

19 health condition associated with that 

20 person’s weight gain or obesity; or 

21 (iii) an action brought by the Federal 

22 Trade Commission under the Federal 

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

24 seq.) or by the Federal Food and Drug 

25 Administration under the Federal Food, 
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1 Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et 

2 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. 

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

8 the several States of the United States, the District 

9 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 

10 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the 

11 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 

12 and any other territory or possession of the United 

13 States, and any political subdivision of any such 

14 place. 

15 (8) TRADE ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘‘trade as16 sociation’’ means any association or business organi17 zation (whether or not incorporated under Federal 

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

19 or more members of which are manufacturers, mar20 keters, distributors, advertisers, or sellers of a quali21 fied product. 

Passed the House of Representatives October 19, 

2005. 

Attest: JEFF TRANDAHL, 

Clerk. 

Calendar No. 254 

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 

OCTOBER 20, 2005 

Received; read the first time 

OCTOBER 21, 2005 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar