I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3088 

To require an automobile manufacturer that the Federal Government has 

an ownership interest in or that has an outstanding loan from the 

Federal Government to purchase liability insurance from an insurance 

company. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 26, 2009 

Mr. CARSON of Indiana (for himself and Mr. BRALEY of Iowa) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To require an automobile manufacturer that the Federal 

Government has an ownership interest in or that has 

an outstanding loan from the Federal Government to 

purchase liability insurance from an insurance company. 

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 ‘‘Jeremy Warriner Con5 sumer Protection Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Product liability is an important legal mech2 anism to ensure that those who make products avail3 able to the public are held responsible for the inju4 ries those products cause. 

5 (2) American consumers have a legal right to 

6 obtain compensation for injuries caused by defec7 tively designed or built cars. 

8 (3) Under its purchase agreement, newly re9 structured Chrysler will not have product liability for 

10 millions of existing Chrysler vehicles currently on the 

11 road, potentially leaving hundreds of individuals and 

12 families uncompensated for injuries caused by vehi13 cle defects. 

14 (4) Under ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, 

15 General Motors is likely to sell its assets under simi16 lar terms to those of Chrysler, in this case leaving 

17 those who have been or might be injured by any of 

18 the tens of millions of existing General Motors vehi19 cles with no effective legal recourse for product li20 ability. 

21 (5) There are more than 10 million Chrysler 

22 and 30 million General Motors vehicles currently on 

23 the road that are subject to safety recalls and, on 

24 average, there will be 500 to 1,000 serious auto in25 juries or fatalities in these vehicles every year. 


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1 (6) Taking away the legal right to seek com2 pensation for injuries will result in no accountability 

3 for companies that put cars with defects on the mar4 ket. 

5 (7) Without compensation, many innocent vic6 tims will be left struggling to pay massive medical 

7 bills while potentially being unable to work. These 

8 health care and disability costs will be borne by 

9 State and Federal governments, at a time when they 

10 can least afford it. 

11 SEC. 3. INSURANCE REQUIREMENT. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any automobile manufacturer 

13 that the Federal Government has an ownership interest 

14 in or that has an outstanding loan from the Federal Gov15 ernment shall purchase liability insurance from an insur16 ance company. 

17 (b) INSURANCE SPECIFICATIONS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The liability insurance de19 scribed under subsection (a) shall provide products 

20 liability coverage in sums that are actuarially rea21 sonable for— 

22 (A) all products that the manufacturer has 

23 marketed or sold in the United States; 


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1 (B) all products that any predecessor cor2 poration of the manufacturer has marketed or 

3 sold in the United States; and 

4 (C) all future products that the manufac5 turer markets or sells in the United States. 

6 (2) SUCCESSOR ENTITY COVERAGE.—The liabil7 ity insurance described under subsection (a) shall 

8 provide for the coverage of any successor entity of 

9 the manufacturer as an additional insured. 

10 (3) SELF-RETENTION LIMITS.—The liability in11 surance described under subsection (a) may have 

12 self-retention limits, but such limits may not be 

13 greater than $200,000 per claim. 

14 (c) NO DEFENSE BASED ON BANKRUPTCY.—If an 

15 automobile manufacturer described in subsection (a), or 

16 any successor entity, is a named insured under a liability 

17 insurance plan, any defense predicated upon Bankruptcy 

18 to a liability claim involving such plan shall be null and 

19 void. 

20 (d) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 90 days after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 

22 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shall 

23 initiate a rulemaking proceeding to implement the insur24 ance requirement under this section. 


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1 (e) CIVIL PENALTY.—The Administrator of the Na2 tional Highway Traffic Safety Administration may impose 

3 a civil penalty against any automobile manufacturer for 

4 each violation of subsection (a) in an amount not to exceed 

5 5 times the amount the Administrator determines it would 

6 have cost such manufacturer to purchase liability insur7 ance described under subsection (a). 

Æ 


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