II 
Calendar No. 254 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 554 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
OCTOBER 20, 2005 
Received; read the first time 
OCTOBER 21, 2005 
Read the second time and placed on the calendar 
AN ACT 
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 of 2005’’.
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 
(1) the food and beverage industries are a sig-
nificant part of our national economy; 
(2) the activities of manufacturers and sellers 
of foods and beverages substantially affect interstate 
and foreign commerce; 
(3) a person’s weight gain, obesity, or a health 
condition associated with a person’s weight gain or 
obesity is based on a multitude of factors, including 
genetic factors and the lifestyle and physical fitness 
decisions of individuals, such that a person’s weight 
gain, obesity, or a health condition associated with 
a person’s weight gain or obesity cannot be attrib-
uted to the consumption of any specific food or bev-
erage; and 
(4) because fostering a culture of acceptance of 
personal responsibility is one of the most important 
ways to promote a healthier society, lawsuits seeking 
to blame individual food and beverage providers for 
a person’s weight gain, obesity, or a health condition 
associated with a person’s weight gain or obesity are 
not only legally frivolous and economically dam-
aging, but also harmful to a healthy America. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to allow 
Congress and regulatory agencies to determine appro-
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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 that is allegedly of 
the type described in section 4(5) seeking to impose 
liability of any kind based on accumulative acts of 
consumption of a qualified product, the obligation of 
any party or non-party to make disclosures of any 
kind under any applicable rule or order, or to re-
spond to discovery requests of any kind, as well as 
all proceedings unrelated to a motion to dismiss, 
shall be stayed prior to the time for filing a motion 
to dismiss and during the pendency of any such mo-
tion, unless the court finds upon motion of any 
party that a response to a particularized discovery
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request 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), the responsibilities of the parties with regard to 
the treatment of all documents, data compilations 
(including electronically recorded or stored data), 
and tangible objects shall be governed by applicable 
Federal or State rules of civil procedure. A party ag-
grieved by the failure of an opposing party to comply 
with this paragraph shall have the applicable rem-
edies made available by such applicable rules, pro-
vided that no remedy shall be afforded that conflicts 
with the terms of paragraph (1). 
(d) PLEADINGS.—In any action that is allegedly of 
the type described in section 4(5) seeking to impose liabil-
ity of any kind based on accumulative acts of consumption 
of a qualified product, the complaint initiating such action 
shall state with particularity for each defendant and cause 
of action— 
(1) each element of the cause of action and the 
specific facts alleged to satisfy each element of the 
cause of action; 
(2) the Federal and State statutes or other laws 
that allegedly create the cause of action; and
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(3) the section 4(5)(B) exception being relied 
upon and the specific facts that allegedly satisfy the 
requirements of that exception. 
(e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—No provision of this 
Act shall be construed to create a public or private cause 
of action or remedy. 
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. 
(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))).