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.
Passed the House of Representatives March 10,
2004.
Attest:
Clerk.