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 ‘‘Multidistrict,
Multiparty, Multiforum Trial Jurisdiction Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION.
Section 1407 of title 28, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) in the third sentence of subsection (a), by
inserting ‘‘or ordered transferred to the transferee
or other district under subsection (i)’’ after ‘‘termi-
nated’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(i)(1) Subject to paragraph (2) and except as pro-
vided in subsection (j), any action transferred under this
section by the panel may be transferred for trial purposes,
by the judge or judges of the transferee district to whom
the action was assigned, to the transferee or other district
in the interest of justice and for the convenience of the
parties and witnesses.
‘‘(2) Any action transferred for trial purposes under
paragraph (1) shall be remanded by the panel for the de-
termination of compensatory damages to the district court
from which it was transferred, unless the court to which
the action has been transferred for trial purposes also
finds, for the convenience of the parties and witnesses and
in the interests of justice, that the action should be re-
tained for the determination of compensatory damages.’’.
SEC. 3. MULTIPARTY, MULTIFORUM JURISDICTION OF DIS-
TRICT COURTS.
(a) BASIS OF JURISDICTION.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Chapter 85 of title 28,
United States Code, is amended by adding at the
end the following new section:
‘‘§ 1369. Multiparty, multiforum jurisdiction
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The district courts shall have
original jurisdiction of any civil action involving minimal
diversity between adverse parties that arises from a single
accident, where at least 25 natural persons have either
died or incurred injury in the accident at a discrete loca-
tion and, in the case of injury, the injury has resulted in
damages which exceed $150,000 per person, exclusive of
interest and costs, if—
‘‘(1) a defendant resides in a State and a sub-
stantial part of the accident took place in another
State or other location, regardless of whether that
defendant is also a resident of the State where a
substantial part of the accident took place;
‘‘(2) any two defendants reside in different
States, regardless of whether such defendants are
also residents of the same State or States; or
‘‘(3) substantial parts of the accident took place
in different States.
‘‘(b) LIMITATION
OF JURISDICTION
OF DISTRICT
COURTS.—The district court shall abstain from hearing
any civil action described in subsection (a) in which—
‘‘(1) the substantial majority of all plaintiffs
are citizens of a single State of which the primary
defendants are also citizens; and
‘‘(2) the claims asserted will be governed pri-
marily by the laws of that State.
‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULES AND DEFINITIONS.—For pur-
poses of this section—
‘‘(1) minimal diversity exists between adverse
parties if any party is a citizen of a State and any
adverse party is a citizen of another State, a citizen
or subject of a foreign state, or a foreign state as
defined in section 1603(a) of this title;
‘‘(2) a corporation is deemed to be a citizen of
any State, and a citizen or subject of any foreign
state, in which it is incorporated or has its principal
place of business, and is deemed to be a resident of
any State in which it is incorporated or licensed to
do business or is doing business;
‘‘(3) the term ‘injury’ means—
‘‘(A) physical harm to a natural person;
and
‘‘(B) physical damage to or destruction of
tangible property, but only if physical harm de-
scribed in subparagraph (A) exists;
‘‘(4) the term ‘accident’ means a sudden acci-
dent, or a natural event culminating in an accident,
that results in death or injury incurred at a discrete
location by at least 25 natural persons; and
‘‘(5) the term ‘State’ includes the District of
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and
any territory or possession of the United States.
‘‘(d) INTERVENING PARTIES.—In any action in a dis-
trict court which is or could have been brought, in whole
or in part, under this section, any person with a claim
arising from the accident described in subsection (a) shall
be permitted to intervene as a party plaintiff in the action,
even if that person could not have brought an action in
a district court as an original matter.
‘‘(e) NOTIFICATION OF JUDICIAL PANEL ON MULTI-
DISTRICT LITIGATION.—A district court in which an ac-
tion under this section is pending shall promptly notify
the judicial panel on multidistrict litigation of the pend-
ency of the action.’’.
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of
sections at the beginning of chapter 85 of title 28,
United States Code, is amended by adding at the
end the following new item:
‘‘1369. Multiparty, multiforum jurisdiction.’’.
(b) VENUE.—Section 1391 of title 28, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(g) A civil action in which jurisdiction of the district
court is based upon section 1369 of this title may be
brought in any district in which any defendant resides or
in which a substantial part of the accident giving rise to
the action took place.’’.
(c) MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION.—Section 1407 of
title 28, United States Code, as amended by section 2 of
this Act, is further amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(j)(1) In actions transferred under this section when
jurisdiction is or could have been based, in whole or in
part, on section 1369 of this title, the transferee district
court may, notwithstanding any other provision of this
section, retain actions so transferred for the determination
of liability and punitive damages. An action retained for
the determination of liability shall be remanded to the dis-
trict court from which the action was transferred, or to
the State court from which the action was removed, for
the determination of damages, other than punitive dam-
ages, unless the court finds, for the convenience of parties
and witnesses and in the interest of justice, that the action
should be retained for the determination of damages.
‘‘(2) Any remand under paragraph (1) shall not be
effective until 60 days after the transferee court has
issued an order determining liability and has certified its
intention to remand some or all of the transferred actions
for the determination of damages. An appeal with respect
to the liability determination of the transferee court may
be taken during that 60-day period to the court of appeals
with appellate jurisdiction over the transferee court. In the
event a party files such an appeal, the remand shall not
be effective until the appeal has been finally disposed of.
Once the remand has become effective, the liability deter-
mination shall not be subject to further review by appeal
or otherwise.
‘‘(3) An appeal with respect to determination of puni-
tive damages by the transferee court may be taken, during
the 60-day period beginning on the date the order making
the determination is issued, to the court of appeals with
jurisdiction over the transferee court.
amended by adding at the end the following new
item:
‘‘1785. Subpoenas in multiparty, multiforum actions.’’.
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
(a) SECTION 2.—The amendments made by section
2 shall apply to any civil action pending on or brought
on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(b) SECTION 3.—The amendments made by section
3 shall apply to a civil action if the accident giving rise
to the cause of action occurred on or after the 90th day
after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Passed the House of Representatives March 14,
2001.
Attest:
Clerk.