I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 554
To prevent legislative and regulatory functions from being usurped by civil 
liability actions brought or continued against food manufacturers, mar-
keters, 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. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 2, 2005
Mr. KELLER (for himself, Mr. DELAY, Mr. BLUNT, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, Mr. 
SENSENBRENNER, Mr. NEY, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. GARRETT 
of New Jersey, Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, 
Mr. HENSARLING, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Ms. 
GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. 
CARTER, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. PENCE, Mr. SIMPSON, 
Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. AKIN, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. OTTER, Mr. STEARNS, Mr. 
BRADLEY of New Hampshire, Mr. COX, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. FRANKS 
of Arizona, Mr. MACK, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. PETRI, Mr. KIRK, Mrs. JO 
ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. 
HASTINGS of Washington, Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. PETERSON of Pennsyl-
vania, and Ms. BERKLEY) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To prevent legislative and regulatory functions from being 
usurped by civil liability actions brought or continued 
against food manufacturers, marketers, distributors, ad-
vertisers, 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 obe-
sity.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Personal Responsibility 
in Food Consumption Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to allow Congress, State 
legislatures, and regulatory agencies to determine appro-
priate laws, rules, and regulations to address the problems 
of weight gain, obesity, and health conditions associated 
with weight gain or obesity. 
SEC. 3. PRESERVATION OF SEPARATION OF POWERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—A qualified civil liability action 
may not be brought in any Federal or State court. 
(b) DISMISSAL OF PENDING ACTIONS.—A qualified 
civil liability action that is pending on the date of the en-
actment of this Act shall be dismissed immediately by the 
court in which the action was brought or is currently pend-
ing. 
(c) DISCOVERY.—
(1) STAY.—In any action of the type described 
in clause (i) or (ii) of section 4(5)(B), all discovery 
and other proceedings shall be stayed during the 
pendency of any motion to dismiss unless the court 
finds upon motion of any party that particularized
discovery is necessary to preserve evidence or to pre-
vent undue prejudice to that party. 
(2) RESPONSIBILITY OF PARTIES.—During the 
pendency of any stay of discovery under paragraph 
(1), unless otherwise ordered by the court, any party 
to the action with actual notice of the allegations 
contained in the complaint shall treat all documents, 
data compilations (including electronically recorded 
or stored data), and tangible objects that are in the 
custody or control of such person and that are rel-
evant to the allegations, as if they were the subject 
of a continuing request for production of documents 
from an opposing party under applicable Federal or 
State rules of civil procedure, as the case may be. 
A party aggrieved by the willful failure of an oppos-
ing party to comply with this paragraph may apply 
to the court for an order awarding appropriate sanc-
tions. 
(d) PLEADINGS.—In any action of the type described 
in section 4(5)(B)(i), the complaint initiating such action 
shall state with particularity the Federal and State stat-
utes that were allegedly violated and the facts that are 
alleged to have proximately caused the injury claimed. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act:
(1) ENGAGED
IN
THE
BUSINESS.—The term 
‘‘engaged in the business’’ means a person who man-
ufactures, markets, distributes, advertises, or sells a 
qualified product in the person’s regular course of 
trade or business. 
(2) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘‘manufac-
turer’’ means, with respect to a qualified product, a 
person who is lawfully engaged in the business of 
manufacturing the product in interstate or foreign 
commerce. 
(3) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means any 
individual, corporation, company, association, firm, 
partnership, society, joint stock company, or any 
other entity, including any governmental entity. 
(4) QUALIFIED PRODUCT.—The term ‘‘qualified 
product’’ means a food (as defined in section 201(f) 
of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 
U.S.C. 321(f))). 
(5) QUALIFIED CIVIL LIABILITY ACTION.—(A) 
Subject to subparagraphs (B) and (C), the term 
‘‘qualified civil liability action’’ means a civil action 
brought by any person against a manufacturer or 
seller of a qualified product, or a trade association, 
for damages, penalties, declaratory judgment, in-
junctive or declaratory relief, restitution, or other re-
lief arising out of, related to, or resulting in injury 
or potential injury resulting from a person’s con-
sumption of a qualified product and weight gain, 
obesity, or any health condition that is associated 
with a person’s weight gain or obesity, including an 
action brought by a person other than the person on 
whose weight gain, obesity, or health condition the 
action is based, and any derivative action brought by 
or on behalf of any person or any representative, 
spouse, parent, child, or other relative of any person. 
(B) Such term shall not include—
(i) an action in which a manufacturer or 
seller of a qualified product knowingly and will-
fully violated a Federal or State statute applica-
ble to the manufacturing, marketing, distribu-
tion, advertisement, labeling, or sale of the 
product, and the violation was a proximate 
cause of injury related to a person’s weight 
gain, obesity, or any health condition associated 
with a person’s weight gain or obesity; or 
(ii) an action for breach of express con-
tract or express warranty in connection with the 
purchase of a qualified product. 
(C) Such term shall not be construed to include 
an action brought under the Federal Trade Commis-
sion Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) or the Federal Food, 
Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.). 
(6) SELLER.—The term ‘‘seller’’ means, with 
respect to a qualified product, a person lawfully en-
gaged in the business of marketing, distributing, ad-
vertising, or selling a qualified product in interstate 
or foreign commerce. 
(7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes each of 
the several States of the United States, the District 
of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the 
Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
and any other territory or possession of the United 
States, and any political subdivision of any such 
place. 
(8) TRADE ASSOCIATION.—The term ‘‘trade as-
sociation’’ means any association or business organi-
zation (whether or not incorporated under Federal 
or State law) that is not operated for profit, and 2 
or more members of which are manufacturers, mar-
keters, distributors, advertisers, or sellers of a quali-
fied product.
Æ