108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4571

AN ACT

To amend Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil

and for other purposes.Procedure to improve attorney accountability,

108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4571

AN ACT

To amend Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

to improve attorney accountability, 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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lawsuit Abuse Reduc3 tion Act of 2004’’.

4 SEC. 2. ATTORNEY ACCOUNTABILITY.

5 Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is

6 amended—

7 (1) in subdivision (c)—

8 (A) by amending the first sentence to read

9 as follows: ‘‘If a pleading, motion, or other

10 paper is signed in violation of this rule, the

11 court, upon motion or upon its own initiative,

12 shall impose upon the attorney, law firm, or

13 parties that have violated this subdivision or are

14 responsible for the violation, an appropriate

15 sanction, which may include an order to the

16 other party or parties to pay for the reasonable

17 expenses incurred as a direct result of the filing

18 of the pleading, motion, or other paper, that is

19 the subject of the violation, including a reason20 able attorney’s fee.’’;

21 (B) in paragraph (1)(A)—

22 (i) by striking ‘‘Rule 5’’ and all that

23 follows through ‘‘corrected.’’ and inserting

24 ‘‘Rule 5.’’; and

25 (ii) by striking ‘‘the court may award’’

26 and inserting ‘‘the court shall award’’; and
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1 (C) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘shall be

2 limited to what is sufficient’’ and all that fol3 lows through the end of the paragraph (includ4 ing subparagraphs (A) and (B)) and inserting

5 ‘‘shall be sufficient to deter repetition of such

6 conduct or comparable conduct by others simi7 larly situated, and to compensate the parties

8 that were injured by such conduct. The sanc9 tion may consist of an order to pay to the party

10 or parties the amount of the reasonable ex11 penses incurred as a direct result of the filing

12 of the pleading, motion, or other paper that is

13 the subject of the violation, including a reason14 able attorney’s fee.’’; and

15 (2) by striking subdivision (d).

16 SEC. 3. APPLICABILITY OF RULE 11 TO STATE CASES AF17 FECTING INTERSTATE COMMERCE.

18 In any civil action in State court, the court, upon mo19 tion, shall determine within 30 days after the filing of such

20 motion whether the action affects interstate commerce.

21 Such court shall make such determination based on an

22 assessment of the costs to the interstate economy, includ23 ing the loss of jobs, were the relief requested granted. If

24 the court determines such action affects interstate com-
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1 merce, the provisions of Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of

2 Civil Procedure shall apply to such action.

3 SEC. 4. PREVENTION OF FORUM-SHOPPING.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), a per5 sonal injury claim filed in State or Federal court may be

6 filed only in the State and, within that State, in the county

7 (or Federal district) in which—

8 (1) the person bringing the claim, including an

9 estate in the case of a decedent and a parent or

10 guardian in the case of a minor or incompetent—

11 (A) resides at the time of filing; or

12 (B) resided at the time of the alleged in13 jury; or

14 (2) the alleged injury or circumstances giving

15 rise to the personal injury claim allegedly occurred;

16 or

17 (3) the defendant’s principal place of business

18 is located.

19 (b) DETERMINATION OF MOST APPROPRIATE

20 FORUM.—If a person alleges that the injury or cir21 cumstances giving rise to the personal injury claim oc22 curred in more than one county (or Federal district), the

23 trial court shall determine which State and county (or

24 Federal district) is the most appropriate forum for the

25 claim. If the court determines that another forum would
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1 be the most appropriate forum for a claim, the court shall

2 dismiss the claim. Any otherwise applicable statute of limi3 tations shall be tolled beginning on the date the claim was

4 filed and ending on the date the claim is dismissed under

5 this subsection.

6 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

7 (1) The term ‘‘personal injury claim’’—

8 (A) means a civil action brought under

9 State law by any person to recover for a per10 son’s personal injury, illness, disease, death,

11 mental or emotional injury, risk of disease, or

12 other injury, or the costs of medical monitoring

13 or surveillance (to the extent such claims are

14 recognized under State law), including any de15 rivative action brought on behalf of any person

16 on whose injury or risk of injury the action is

17 based by any representative party, including a

18 spouse, parent, child, or other relative of such

19 person, a guardian, or an estate; and

20 (B) does not include a claim brought as a

21 class action.

22 (2) The term ‘‘person’’ means any individual,

23 corporation, company, association, firm, partnership,

24 society, joint stock company, or any other entity, but

25 not any governmental entity.
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1 (3) The term ‘‘State’’ includes the District of

2 Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

3 United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and any other

4 territory or possession of the United States.

5 (d) APPLICABILITY.—This section applies to any per6 sonal injury claim filed in Federal or State court on or

7 after the date of the enactment of this Act.

8 SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

9 Nothing in section 3 or in the amendments made by

10 section 2 shall be construed to bar or impede the assertion

11 or development of new claims or remedies under Federal,

12 State, or local civil rights law.

13 SEC. 6. THREE-STRIKES RULE FOR SUSPENDING ATTOR14 NEYS WHO COMMIT MULTIPLE RULE 11 VIO15 LATIONS.

16 (a) MANDATORY SUSPENSION.—Whenever a Federal

17 district court determines that an attorney has violated

18 Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the court

19 shall determine the number of times that the attorney has

20 violated that rule in that Federal district court during that

21 attorney’s career. If the court determines that the number

22 is 3 or more, the Federal district court—

23 (1) shall suspend that attorney from the prac24 tice of law in that Federal district court for 1 year;

25 and
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1 (2) may suspend that attorney from the prac2 tice of law in that Federal district court for any ad3 ditional period that the court considers appropriate.

4 (b) APPEAL; STAY.—An attorney has the right to ap5 peal a suspension under subsection (a). While such an ap6 peal is pending, the suspension shall be stayed.

7 (c) REINSTATEMENT.—To be reinstated to the prac8 tice of law in a Federal district court after completion of

9 a suspension under subsection (a), the attorney must first

10 petition the court for reinstatement under such procedures

11 and conditions as the court may prescribe.

12 SEC. 7. ENHANCED SANCTIONS FOR DOCUMENT DESTRUC13 TION.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever willfully and inten15 tionally influences, obstructs, or impedes, or attempts to

16 influence, obstruct, or impede, a pending court proceeding

17 through the willful and intentional destruction of docu18 ments sought in, and highly relevant to, that proceeding

19 shall be punished with mandatory civil sanctions of a de20 gree commensurate with the civil sanctions available under

21 Rule 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, in addi22 tion to any other civil sanctions that otherwise apply.
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1 (b) APPLICABILITY.—This section applies to any

2 court proceeding in any Federal or State court.

Passed the House of Representatives September 14,

2004.

Attest:

Clerk.