IIB 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1927 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 11, 2016 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

AN ACT 

To amend title 28, United States Code, to improve fairness 

in class action litigation. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

HR 1927 RFS 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fairness in Class Ac3 tion Litigation and Furthering Asbestos Claim Trans4 parency Act of 2016’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FAIRNESS IN CLASS ACTION LITIGATION. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—No Federal court shall certify any 

7 proposed class seeking monetary relief for personal injury 

8 or economic loss unless the party seeking to maintain such 

9 a class action affirmatively demonstrates that each pro10 posed class member suffered the same type and scope of 

11 injury as the named class representative or representa12 tives. 

13 (b) CERTIFICATION ORDER.—An order issued under 

14 Rule 23(c)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that 

15 certifies a class seeking monetary relief for personal injury 

16 or economic loss shall include a determination, based on 

17 a rigorous analysis of the evidence presented, that the re18 quirement in subsection (a) of this section is satisfied. 

19 SEC. 3. FURTHERING ASBESTOS CLAIM TRANSPARENCY. 

20 (a) AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 11, UNITED STATES

21 CODE.—Section 524(g) of title 11, United States Code, 

22 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(8) A trust described in paragraph (2) shall, subject 

24 to section 107— 

25 ‘‘(A) file with the bankruptcy court, not later 

26 than 60 days after the end of every quarter, a report 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

HR 1927 RFS 

1 that shall be made available on the court’s public 

2 docket and with respect to such quarter— 

3 ‘‘(i) describes each demand the trust re4 ceived from, including the name and exposure 

5 history of, a claimant and the basis for any 

6 payment from the trust made to such claimant; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(ii) does not include any confidential med9 ical record or the claimant’s full social security 

10 number; and 

11 ‘‘(B) upon written request, and subject to pay12 ment (demanded at the option of the trust) for any 

13 reasonable cost incurred by the trust to comply with 

14 such request, provide in a timely manner any infor15 mation related to payment from, and demands for 

16 payment from, such trust, subject to appropriate 

17 protective orders, to any party to any action in law 

18 or equity if the subject of such action concerns li19 ability for asbestos exposure.’’. 

20 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMEND21 MENTS.— 

22 (1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Except as provided in 

23 paragraph (2), this section and the amendments 

24 made by this section take effect on the date of the 

25 enactment of this Act. 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

HR 1927 RFS 

1 (2) APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS.—The 

2 amendments made by this section shall apply with 

3 respect to cases commenced under title 11 of the 

4 United States Code before, on, or after the date of 

5 the enactment of this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives January 8, 

2016. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS