H. R. 956—5
(i) sells, distributes, rents, leases, prepares, blends,
packages, labels, or otherwise is involved in placing
a product in the stream of commerce; or
(ii) installs, repairs, refurbishes, reconditions, or
maintains the harm-causing aspect of the product.
(B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘product seller’’ does not
include—
(i) a seller or lessor of real property;
(ii) a provider of professional services in any case
in which the sale or use of a product is incidental
to the transaction and the essence of the transaction
is the furnishing of judgment, skill, or services; or
(iii) any person who—
(I) acts in only a financial capacity with
respect to the sale of a product; or
(II) leases a product under a lease arrange-
ment in which the lessor does not initially select
the leased product and does not during the lease
term ordinarily control the daily operations and
maintenance of the product.
(17) PUNITIVE
DAMAGES.—The term ‘‘punitive damages’’
means damages awarded against any person or entity to punish
or deter such person or entity, or others, from engaging in
similar behavior in the future.
(18) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any State of the
United States, the District of Columbia, Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands,
Guam, American Samoa, and any other territory or possession
of the United States or any political subdivision of any of
the foregoing.
SEC. 102. APPLICABILITY; PREEMPTION.
(a) PREEMPTION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—This Act governs any product liability
action brought in any State or Federal court on any theory
for harm caused by a product.
(2) ACTIONS EXCLUDED.—A civil action brought for commer-
cial loss shall be governed only by applicable commercial or
contract law.
(b) RELATIONSHIP TO STATE LAW.—This title supersedes State
law only to the extent that State law applies to an issue covered
by this title. Any issue that is not governed by this title, including
any standard of liability applicable to a manufacturer, shall be
governed by otherwise applicable State or Federal law.
(c) EFFECT ON OTHER LAW.—Nothing in this Act shall be con-
strued to—
(1) waive or affect any defense of sovereign immunity
asserted by any State under any law;
(2) supersede or alter any Federal law;
(3) waive or affect any defense of sovereign immunity
asserted by the United States;
(4) affect the applicability of any provision of chapter 97
of title 28, United States Code;
(5) preempt State choice-of-law rules with respect to claims
brought by a foreign nation or a citizen of a foreign nation;
(6) affect the right of any court to transfer venue or to
apply the law of a foreign nation or to dismiss a claim of
H. R. 956—6
a foreign nation or of a citizen of a foreign nation on the
ground of inconvenient forum; or
(7) supersede or modify any statutory or common law,
including any law providing for an action to abate a nuisance,
that authorizes a person to institute an action for civil damages
or civil penalties, cleanup costs, injunctions, restitution, cost
recovery, punitive damages, or any other form of relief for
remediation of the environment (as defined in section 101(8)
of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation,
and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601(8)).
SEC. 103. LIABILITY RULES APPLICABLE TO PRODUCT SELLERS, RENT-
ERS, AND LESSORS.
(a) GENERAL RULE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—In any product liability action, a product
seller other than a manufacturer shall be liable to a claimant
only if the claimant establishes—
(A) that—
(i) the product that allegedly caused the harm
that is the subject of the complaint was sold, rented,
or leased by the product seller;
(ii) the product seller failed to exercise reasonable
care with respect to the product; and
(iii) the failure to exercise reasonable care was
a proximate cause of harm to the claimant;
(B) that—
(i) the product seller made an express warranty
applicable to the product that allegedly caused the
harm that is the subject of the complaint, independent
of any express warranty made by a manufacturer as
to the same product;
(ii) the product failed to conform to the warranty;
and
(iii) the failure of the product to conform to the
warranty caused harm to the claimant; or
(C) that—
(i) the product seller engaged in intentional wrong-
doing, as determined under applicable State law; and
(ii) such intentional wrongdoing was a proximate
cause of the harm that is the subject of the complaint.
(2) REASONABLE OPPORTUNITY FOR INSPECTION.—For pur-
poses of paragraph (1)(A)(ii), a product seller shall not be consid-
ered to have failed to exercise reasonable care with respect
to a product based upon an alleged failure to inspect the prod-
uct—
(A) if the failure occurred because there was no reason-
able opportunity to inspect the product; or
(B) if the inspection, in the exercise of reasonable care,
would not have revealed the aspect of the product which
allegedly caused the claimant’s harm.
(b) SPECIAL RULE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—A product seller shall be deemed to be
liable as a manufacturer of a product for harm caused by
the product if—
(A) the manufacturer is not subject to service of process
under the laws of any State in which the action may
be brought; or
H. R. 956—7
(B) the court determines that the claimant would be
unable to enforce a judgment against the manufacturer.
(2) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—For purposes of this sub-
section only, the statute of limitations applicable to claims
asserting liability of a product seller as a manufacturer shall
be tolled from the date of the filing of a complaint against
the manufacturer to the date that judgment is entered against
the manufacturer.
(c) RENTED OR LEASED PRODUCTS.—
(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any person
engaged in the business of renting or leasing a product (other
than a person excluded from the definition of product seller
under section 101(16)(B)) shall be subject to liability in a prod-
uct liability action under subsection (a), but any person engaged
in the business of renting or leasing a product shall not be
liable to a claimant for the tortious act of another solely by
reason of ownership of such product.
(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), and for determining
the applicability of this title to any person subject to paragraph
(1), the term ‘‘product liability action’’ means a civil action
brought on any theory for harm caused by a product or product
use.
(d) ACTIONS FOR NEGLIGENT ENTRUSTMENT.—A civil action for
negligent entrustment shall not be subject to the provisions of
this section, but shall be subject to any applicable State law.
SEC. 104. DEFENSE BASED ON CLAIMANT’S USE OF INTOXICATING
ALCOHOL OR DRUGS.
(a) GENERAL RULE.—In any product liability action, it shall
be a complete defense to such action if—
(1) the claimant was intoxicated or was under the influence
of intoxicating alcohol or any drug when the accident or other
event which resulted in such claimant’s harm occurred; and
(2) the claimant, as a result of the influence of the alcohol
or drug, was more than 50 percent responsible for such accident
or other event.
(b) CONSTRUCTION.—For purposes of subsection (a)—
(1) the determination of whether a person was intoxicated
or was under the influence of intoxicating alcohol or any drug
shall be made pursuant to applicable State law; and
(2) the term ‘‘drug’’ means any controlled substance as
defined in the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802(6))
that was not legally prescribed for use by the claimant or
that was taken by the claimant other than in accordance with
the terms of a lawfully issued prescription.
SEC. 105. MISUSE OR ALTERATION.
(a) GENERAL RULE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—In a product liability action, the damages
for which a defendant is otherwise liable under Federal or
State law shall be reduced by the percentage of responsibility
for the claimant’s harm attributable to misuse or alteration
of a product by any person if the defendant establishes that
such percentage of the claimant’s harm was proximately caused
by a use or alteration of a product—
(A) in violation of, or contrary to, a defendant’s express
warnings or instructions if the warnings or instructions
H. R. 956—8
are adequate as determined pursuant to applicable State
law; or
(B) involving a risk of harm which was known or
should have been known by the ordinary person who uses
or consumes the product with the knowledge common to
the class of persons who used or would be reasonably
anticipated to use the product.
(2) USE
INTENDED
BY
A
MANUFACTURER
IS
NOT
MISUSE
OR ALTERATION.—For the purposes of this Act, a use of a product
that is intended by the manufacturer of the product does not
constitute a misuse or alteration of the product.
(b) WORKPLACE INJURY.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), and
except as otherwise provided in section 111, the damages for which
a defendant is otherwise liable under State law shall not be reduced
by the percentage of responsibility for the claimant’s harm attrib-
utable to misuse or alteration of the product by the claimant’s
employer or any coemployee who is immune from suit by the claim-
ant pursuant to the State law applicable to workplace injuries.
SEC. 106. UNIFORM TIME LIMITATIONS ON LIABILITY.
(a) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in paragraph (2) and
subsection (b), a product liability action may be filed not later
than 2 years after the date on which the claimant discovered
or, in the exercise of reasonable care, should have discovered—
(A) the harm that is the subject of the action; and
(B) the cause of the harm.
(2) EXCEPTION.—A person with a legal disability (as deter-
mined under applicable law) may file a product liability action
not later than 2 years after the date on which the person
ceases to have the legal disability.
(b) STATUTE OF REPOSE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), no
product liability action that is subject to this Act concerning
a product, that is a durable good, alleged to have caused harm
(other than toxic harm) may be filed after the 15-year period
beginning at the time of delivery of the product to the first
purchaser or lessee.
(2) STATE LAW.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if pursu-
ant to an applicable State law, an action described in such
paragraph is required to be filed during a period that is shorter
than the 15-year period specified in such paragraph, the State
law shall apply with respect to such period.
(3) EXCEPTIONS.—
(A) A motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft, or train, that
is used primarily to transport passengers for hire, shall
not be subject to this subsection.
(B) Paragraph (1) does not bar a product liability action
against a defendant who made an express warranty in
writing as to the safety or life expectancy of the specific
product involved which was longer than 15 years, but it
will apply at the expiration of that warranty.
(C) Paragraph (1) does not affect the limitations period
established by the General Aviation Revitalization Act of
1994 (49 U.S.C. 40101 note).
(c) TRANSITIONAL
PROVISION
RELATING
TO
EXTENSION
OF
PERIOD FOR BRINGING CERTAIN ACTIONS.—If any provision of sub-