IB 
Union Calendar No. 248
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 339
[Report No. 108–432] 
To prevent frivolous lawsuits against the manufacturers, distributors, or sell-
ers of food or non-alcoholic beverage products that comply with applicable 
statutory and regulatory requirements. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 27, 2003
Mr. KELLER (for himself, Mr. NEY, Mr. GRAVES, Mr. TIBERI, Mrs. BIGGERT, 
Mr. CRENSHAW, and Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
MARCH 5, 2004
Additional sponsors: Mr. MICA, Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. 
FEENEY, Mr. PENCE, Mr. CHOCOLA, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. ISSA, 
Mr. SCHROCK, Mr. PUTNAM, Mr. FORBES, Mr. KIRK, Mr. BAKER, Ms. 
HART, Mr. COLE, Mr. PITTS, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. WILSON of 
South Carolina, Mr. OSBORNE, Mr. DELAY, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. WELDON 
of Florida, Mr. STEARNS, Mr. AKIN, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. 
ISAKSON, Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. SOUDER, 
Mr. WAMP, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. CANNON, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. HASTINGS of 
Washington, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Ms. HARRIS, Ms. GINNY BROWN-
WAITE of Florida, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. Janklow, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. 
BOEHNER, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. HOBSON, Mr. GOSS, Mr. 
TIAHRT, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. CARTER, Mr. RENZI, Mr. BONILLA, Mr. 
GALLEGLY, Mr. GOODE, Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. GOOD-
LATTE, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. YOUNG of Florida, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. 
DOOLITTLE, Mr. HERGER, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. 
OTTER, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. KLINE, Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota, 
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. 
LUCAS of Kentucky, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. EVERETT, Mr. UPTON, Mr. 
VITTER, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire, Ms. PRYCE 
of Ohio, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. HENSARLING, Mrs. MUSGRAVE, 
Mrs. NORTHUP, Mr. SIMMONS, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, Mr. PETRI, Mr. 
KNOLLENBERG, Mr. MCINNIS, Mr. SHAW, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. BILI-
RAKIS, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. BRADY
of Texas, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. 
NETHERCUTT, Mr. TANCREDO, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. GARRETT of 
New Jersey, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. TOOMEY, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. 
FORD, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. BURGESS, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. JOHN, Mr. 
BACHUS, Mr. HALL, Mr. BURNS, Mr. COX, Mr. BEAUPREZ, Mr. SIMP-
SON, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. TERRY, Mr. CARDOZA, and Mr. STENHOLM
MARCH 5, 2004
Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 
on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 27, 2003] 
A BILL 
To prevent frivolous lawsuits against the manufacturers, dis-
tributors, or sellers of food or non-alcoholic beverage 
products that comply with applicable statutory and regu-
latory requirements.
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 leg-
islatures, and regulatory agencies to determine appropriate 
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 qualified civil liability ac-
tion, 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 evi-
dence or to prevent 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 con-
tained 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 opposing 
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)(A), the complaint initiating such action 
shall state with particularity the Federal and State statutes 
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 ‘‘en-
gaged in the business’’ means a person who manufac-
tures, markets, distributes, advertises, or sells a quali-
fied product in the person’s regular course of trade or 
business. 
(2) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘‘manufacturer’’ 
means, with respect to a qualified product, a person 
who is lawfully engaged in the business of manufac-
turing the product in interstate or foreign commerce. 
(3) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means any in-
dividual, corporation, company, association, firm, 
partnership, society, joint stock company, or any 
other entity, including any governmental entity.