I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 985 

To amend the procedures used in Federal court class actions and multidistrict 

litigation proceedings to assure fairer, more efficient outcomes for claimants and defendants, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2017 

Mr. GOODLATTE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the procedures used in Federal court class actions 

and multidistrict litigation proceedings to assure fairer, 

more efficient outcomes for claimants and defendants, 

and for other purposes. 

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; REFERENCE; TABLE OF CON4 TENTS. 

5 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

6 ‘‘Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017’’. 

7 (b) REFERENCE.—Whenever, in this Act, reference 

8 is made to an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or 


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1 other provision, the reference shall be considered to be 

2 made to a section or other provision of title 28, United 

3 States Code. 

4 (c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

5 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; reference; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Purposes. 

Sec. 3. Class action procedures. 

Sec. 4. Misjoinder of plaintiffs in personal injury and wrongful death actions. 

Sec. 5. Multidistrict litigation proceedings procedures. 

Sec. 6. Rulemaking authority of Supreme Court and Judicial Conference. 

Sec. 7. Effective date. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are to— 

8 (1) assure fair and prompt recoveries for class 

9 members and multidistrict litigation plaintiffs with 

10 legitimate claims; 

11 (2) diminish abuses in class action and mass 

12 tort litigation that are undermining the integrity of 

13 the U.S. legal system; and 

14 (3) restore the intent of the framers of the 

15 United States Constitution by ensuring Federal 

16 court consideration of interstate controversies of na17 tional importance consistent with diversity jurisdic18 tion principles. 

19 SEC. 3. CLASS ACTION PROCEDURES. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 114 is amended by in21 serting after section 1715 the following: 


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1 ‘‘§ 1716. Class action injury allegations 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A Federal court shall not issue 

3 an order granting certification of a class action seeking 

4 monetary relief for personal injury or economic loss unless 

5 the party seeking to maintain such a class action affirma6 tively demonstrates that each proposed class member suf7 fered the same type and scope of injury as the named class 

8 representative or representatives. 

9 ‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION ORDER.—An order issued under 

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

11 certifies a class seeking monetary relief for personal injury 

12 or economic loss shall include a determination, based on 

13 a rigorous analysis of the evidence presented, that the re14 quirement in subsection (a) of this section is satisfied. 

15 ‘‘§ 1717. Conflicts of interest 

16 ‘‘(a) REQUIRED DISCLOSURES.—In a class action 

17 complaint, class counsel shall state whether any proposed 

18 class representative or named plaintiff in the complaint 

19 is a relative of, is a present or former employee of, is a 

20 present or former client of (other than with respect to the 

21 class action), or has any contractual relationship with 

22 (other than with respect to the class action) class counsel. 

23 In addition, the complaint shall describe the circumstances 

24 under which each class representative or named plaintiff 

25 agreed to be included in the complaint and shall identify 


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1 any other class action in which any proposed class rep2 resentative or named plaintiff has a similar role. 

3 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION OF CONFLICTS.—A Federal court 

4 shall not issue an order granting certification of any class 

5 action in which any proposed class representative or 

6 named plaintiff is a relative of, is a present or former em7 ployee of, is a present or former client of (other than with 

8 respect to the class action), or has any contractual rela9 tionship with (other than with respect to the class action) 

10 class counsel. 

11 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, ‘rel12 ative’ shall be defined by reference to section 3110(a)(3) 

13 of title 5, United States Code. 

14 ‘‘§ 1718. Class member benefits 

15 ‘‘(a) DISTRIBUTION OF BENEFITS TO CLASS MEM16 BERS.—A Federal court shall not issue an order granting 

17 certification of a class action seeking monetary relief un18 less the class is defined with reference to objective criteria 

19 and the party seeking to maintain such a class action af20 firmatively demonstrates that there is a reliable and ad21 ministratively feasible mechanism (a) for the court to de22 termine whether putative class members fall within the 

23 class definition and (b) for distributing directly to a sub24 stantial majority of class members any monetary relief se25 cured for the class. 


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1 ‘‘(b) ATTORNEYS’ FEES IN CLASS ACTIONS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) FEE DISTRIBUTION TIMING.—In a class 

3 action seeking monetary relief, no attorneys’ fees 

4 may be determined or paid pursuant to Rule 23(h) 

5 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or otherwise 

6 until the distribution of any monetary recovery to 

7 class members has been completed. 

8 ‘‘(2) FEE DETERMINATIONS BASED ON MONE9 TARY AWARDS.—Unless otherwise specified by Fed10 eral statute, if a judgment or proposed settlement in 

11 a class action provides for a monetary recovery, the 

12 portion of any attorneys’ fee award to class counsel 

13 that is attributed to the monetary recovery shall be 

14 limited to a reasonable percentage of any payments 

15 directly distributed to and received by class mem16 bers. In no event shall the attorneys’ fee award ex17 ceed the total amount of money directly distributed 

18 to and received by all class members. 

19 ‘‘(3) FEE DETERMINATIONS BASED ON EQUI20 TABLE RELIEF.—Unless otherwise specified by Fed21 eral statute, if a judgment or proposed settlement in 

22 a class action provides for equitable relief, the por23 tion of any attorneys’ fee award to class counsel that 

24 is attributed to the equitable relief shall be limited 


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1 to a reasonable percentage of the value of the equi2 table relief, including any injunctive relief. 

3 ‘‘§ 1719. Money distribution data 

4 ‘‘(a) SETTLEMENT ACCOUNTINGS.—In any settle5 ment of a class action that provides for monetary benefits, 

6 the court shall order class counsel to submit to the Direc7 tor of the Federal Judicial Center and the Director of the 

8 Administrative Office of the United States Courts an ac9 counting of the disbursement of all funds paid by the de10 fendant pursuant to the settlement agreement. The ac11 counting shall state the total amount paid directly to all 

12 class members, the actual or estimated total number of 

13 class members, the number of class members who received 

14 payments, the average amount (both mean and median) 

15 paid directly to all class members, the largest amount paid 

16 to any class member, the smallest amount paid to any 

17 class member and, separately, each amount paid to any 

18 other person (including class counsel) and the purpose of 

19 the payment. In stating the amounts paid to class mem20 bers, no individual class member shall be identified. No 

21 attorneys’ fees may be paid to class counsel pursuant to 

22 Rule 23(h) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure until 

23 the accounting has been submitted. 

24 ‘‘(b) ANNUAL SETTLEMENT DISTRIBUTION RE25 PORTS.—Commencing not later than 12 months after the 


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1 date of enactment of this Act, the Judicial Conference of 

2 the United States, with the assistance of the Director of 

3 the Federal Judicial Center and the Director of the Ad4 ministrative Office of the United States Courts, shall an5 nually prepare and transmit to the Committees on the Ju6 diciary of the Senate and the House of Representatives 

7 for public dissemination a report summarizing how funds 

8 paid by defendants in class actions have been distributed, 

9 based on the settlement accountings submitted pursuant 

10 to subsection (a). 

11 ‘‘§ 1720. Issues classes 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A Federal court shall not issue 

13 an order granting certification of a class action with re14 spect to particular issues pursuant to Rule 23(c)(4) of the 

15 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure unless the entirety of the 

16 cause of action from which the particular issues arise sat17 isfies all the class certification prerequisites of Rule 23(a) 

18 and Rule 23(b)(1), Rule 23(b)(2), or Rule 23(b)(3). 

19 ‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION ORDER.—An order issued under 

20 Rule 23(c)(4) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that 

21 certifies a class with respect to particular issues shall in22 clude a determination, based on a rigorous analysis of the 

23 evidence presented, that the requirement in subsection (a) 

24 of this section is satisfied. 


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1 ‘‘§ 1721. Stay of discovery 

2 ‘‘In any class action, all discovery and other pro3 ceedings shall be stayed during the pendency of any mo4 tion to transfer, motion to dismiss, motion to strike class 

5 allegations, or other motion to dispose of the class allega6 tions, unless the court finds upon the motion of any party 

7 that particularized discovery is necessary to preserve evi8 dence or to prevent undue prejudice to that party. 

9 ‘‘§ 1722. Third-party litigation funding disclosure 

10 ‘‘In any class action, class counsel shall promptly dis11 close in writing to the court and all other parties the iden12 tity of any person or entity, other than a class member 

13 or class counsel of record, who has a contingent right to 

14 receive compensation from any settlement, judgment, or 

15 other relief obtained in the action. 

16 ‘‘§ 1723. Appeals 

17 ‘‘A court of appeals shall permit an appeal from an 

18 order granting or denying class-action certification under 

19 Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.’’. 

20 SEC. 4. MISJOINDER OF PLAINTIFFS IN PERSONAL INJURY 

21 AND WRONGFUL DEATH ACTIONS. 

22 Section 1447 is amended— 

23 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub24 section (e); 

25 (2) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub26 section (f); and 


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1 (3) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(d) MISJOINDER OF PLAINTIFFS IN PERSONAL IN4 JURY AND WRONGFUL DEATH ACTIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) This subsection shall apply to any civil ac6 tion in which— 

7 ‘‘(A) two or more plaintiffs assert personal 

8 injury or wrongful death claims; 

9 ‘‘(B) the action is removed on the basis of 

10 the jurisdiction conferred by section 1332(a); 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(C) a motion to remand is made on the 

13 ground that one or more defendants are citizens 

14 of the same State as one or more plaintiffs. 

15 ‘‘(2) In deciding the remand motion in any such 

16 case, the court shall apply the jurisdictional require17 ments of section 1332(a) to the claims of each plain18 tiff individually, as though that plaintiff were the 

19 sole plaintiff in the action. 

20 ‘‘(3) The court shall sever the claims that do 

21 not satisfy the jurisdictional requirements of section 

22 1332(a) and shall remand those claims to the State 

23 court from which the action was removed. The court 

24 shall retain jurisdiction over the claims that satisfy 

25 the jurisdictional requirements of section 1332(a).’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION PROCEEDINGS PROCE2 DURES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 87 is amended by adding 

4 to section 1407 the following: 

5 ‘‘(i) ALLEGATIONS VERIFICATION.—In any coordi6 nated or consolidated pretrial proceedings conducted pur7 suant to subsection (b), counsel for a plaintiff asserting 

8 a claim seeking redress for personal injury whose civil ac9 tion is assigned to or directly filed in the proceedings shall 

10 make a submission sufficient to demonstrate that there 

11 is evidentiary support (including but not limited to medical 

12 records) for the factual contentions in plaintiff’s complaint 

13 regarding the alleged injury, the exposure to the risk that 

14 allegedly caused the injury, and the alleged cause of the 

15 injury. The submission must be made within the first 45 

16 days after the civil action is transferred to or directly filed 

17 in the proceedings. That deadline shall not be extended. 

18 Within 30 days after the submission deadline, the judge 

19 or judges to whom the action is assigned shall enter an 

20 order determining whether the submission is sufficient and 

21 shall dismiss the action without prejudice if the submis22 sion is found to be insufficient. If a plaintiff in an action 

23 dismissed without prejudice fails to tender a sufficient 

24 submission within the following 30 days, the action shall 

25 be dismissed with prejudice. 


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1 ‘‘(j) TRIAL PROHIBITION.—In any coordinated or 

2 consolidated pretrial proceedings conducted pursuant to 

3 subsection (b), the judge or judges to whom actions are 

4 assigned by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation 

5 may not conduct any trial in any civil action transferred 

6 to or directly filed in the proceedings unless all parties 

7 to the civil action consent to trial of the specific case 

8 sought to be tried. 

9 ‘‘(k) REVIEW OF ORDERS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Court of Appeals hav11 ing jurisdiction over the transferee district shall per12 mit an appeal to be taken from any order issued in 

13 the conduct of coordinated or consolidated pretrial 

14 proceedings conducted pursuant to subsection (b), 

15 provided that an immediate appeal from the order 

16 may materially advance the ultimate termination of 

17 one or more civil actions in the proceedings. 

18 ‘‘(2) REMAND ORDERS.—Notwithstanding sec19 tion 1447(e), a court of appeals may accept an ap20 peal from an order issued in any coordinated or con21 solidated proceedings conducted pursuant to sub22 section (b) granting or denying a motion to remand 

23 a civil action to the State court from which it was 

24 removed if application is made to the court of ap25 peals within 14 days after the order is entered. 


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1 ‘‘(l) ENSURING PROPER RECOVERY FOR PLAIN2 TIFFS.—The claimants in any civil action asserting a 

3 claim for personal injury transferred to or directly filed 

4 in coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings con5 ducted pursuant to subsection (b) shall receive not less 

6 than 80 percent of any monetary recovery obtained in that 

7 action by settlement, judgment or otherwise. The judge 

8 or judges to whom the coordinated or consolidated pretrial 

9 proceedings have been assigned shall have jurisdiction over 

10 any disputes regarding compliance with this require11 ment.’’. 

12 SEC. 6. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY OF SUPREME COURT 

13 AND JUDICIAL CONFERENCE. 

14 Nothing in this Act shall restrict in any way the au15 thority of the Judicial Conference and the Supreme Court 

16 to propose and prescribe general rules of practice and pro17 cedure under chapter 131 of title 28, United States Code. 

18 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

19 The amendments made by the Act shall apply to any 

20 civil action pending on the date of enactment of this Act 

21 or commenced thereafter. 

Æ 


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