I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 985 
To amend the procedures used in Federal court class actions and multidistrict 
litigation proceedings to assure fairer, more efficient outcomes for claim-
ants and defendants, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 9, 2017 
Mr. GOODLATTE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend the procedures used in Federal court class actions 
and multidistrict litigation proceedings to assure fairer, 
more efficient outcomes for claimants and defendants, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCE; TABLE OF CON-
TENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act of 2017’’. 
(b) REFERENCE.—Whenever, in this Act, reference 
is made to an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or 
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other provision, the reference shall be considered to be 
made to a section or other provision of title 28, United 
States Code. 
(c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; reference; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Purposes. 
Sec. 3. Class action procedures. 
Sec. 4. Misjoinder of plaintiffs in personal injury and wrongful death actions. 
Sec. 5. Multidistrict litigation proceedings procedures. 
Sec. 6. Rulemaking authority of Supreme Court and Judicial Conference. 
Sec. 7. Effective date. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are to— 
(1) assure fair and prompt recoveries for class 
members and multidistrict litigation plaintiffs with 
legitimate claims; 
(2) diminish abuses in class action and mass 
tort litigation that are undermining the integrity of 
the U.S. legal system; and 
(3) restore the intent of the framers of the 
United States Constitution by ensuring Federal 
court consideration of interstate controversies of na-
tional importance consistent with diversity jurisdic-
tion principles. 
SEC. 3. CLASS ACTION PROCEDURES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 114 is amended by in-
serting after section 1715 the following: 
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‘‘§ 1716. Class action injury allegations 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A Federal court shall not issue 
an order granting certification of a class action seeking 
monetary relief for personal injury or economic loss unless 
the party seeking to maintain such a class action affirma-
tively demonstrates that each proposed class member suf-
fered the same type and scope of injury as the named class 
representative or representatives. 
‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION ORDER.—An order issued under 
Rule 23(c)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that 
certifies a class seeking monetary relief for personal injury 
or economic loss shall include a determination, based on 
a rigorous analysis of the evidence presented, that the re-
quirement in subsection (a) of this section is satisfied. 
‘‘§ 1717. Conflicts of interest 
‘‘(a) REQUIRED DISCLOSURES.—In a class action 
complaint, class counsel shall state whether any proposed 
class representative or named plaintiff in the complaint 
is a relative of, is a present or former employee of, is a 
present or former client of (other than with respect to the 
class action), or has any contractual relationship with 
(other than with respect to the class action) class counsel. 
In addition, the complaint shall describe the circumstances 
under which each class representative or named plaintiff 
agreed to be included in the complaint and shall identify 
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any other class action in which any proposed class rep-
resentative or named plaintiff has a similar role. 
‘‘(b) PROHIBITION OF CONFLICTS.—A Federal court 
shall not issue an order granting certification of any class 
action in which any proposed class representative or 
named plaintiff is a relative of, is a present or former em-
ployee of, is a present or former client of (other than with 
respect to the class action), or has any contractual rela-
tionship with (other than with respect to the class action) 
class counsel. 
‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, ‘rel-
ative’ shall be defined by reference to section 3110(a)(3) 
of title 5, United States Code. 
‘‘§ 1718. Class member benefits 
‘‘(a) DISTRIBUTION OF BENEFITS TO CLASS MEM-
BERS.—A Federal court shall not issue an order granting 
certification of a class action seeking monetary relief un-
less the class is defined with reference to objective criteria 
and the party seeking to maintain such a class action af-
firmatively demonstrates that there is a reliable and ad-
ministratively feasible mechanism (a) for the court to de-
termine whether putative class members fall within the 
class definition and (b) for distributing directly to a sub-
stantial majority of class members any monetary relief se-
cured for the class. 
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‘‘(b) ATTORNEYS’ FEES IN CLASS ACTIONS.— 
‘‘(1) FEE DISTRIBUTION TIMING.—In a class 
action seeking monetary relief, no attorneys’ fees 
may be determined or paid pursuant to Rule 23(h) 
of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or otherwise 
until the distribution of any monetary recovery to 
class members has been completed. 
‘‘(2) FEE DETERMINATIONS BASED ON MONE-
TARY AWARDS.—Unless otherwise specified by Fed-
eral statute, if a judgment or proposed settlement in 
a class action provides for a monetary recovery, the 
portion of any attorneys’ fee award to class counsel 
that is attributed to the monetary recovery shall be 
limited to a reasonable percentage of any payments 
directly distributed to and received by class mem-
bers. In no event shall the attorneys’ fee award ex-
ceed the total amount of money directly distributed 
to and received by all class members. 
‘‘(3) FEE DETERMINATIONS BASED ON EQUI-
TABLE RELIEF.—Unless otherwise specified by Fed-
eral statute, if a judgment or proposed settlement in 
a class action provides for equitable relief, the por-
tion of any attorneys’ fee award to class counsel that 
is attributed to the equitable relief shall be limited 
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to a reasonable percentage of the value of the equi-
table relief, including any injunctive relief. 
‘‘§ 1719. Money distribution data 
‘‘(a) SETTLEMENT ACCOUNTINGS.—In any settle-
ment of a class action that provides for monetary benefits, 
the court shall order class counsel to submit to the Direc-
tor of the Federal Judicial Center and the Director of the 
Administrative Office of the United States Courts an ac-
counting of the disbursement of all funds paid by the de-
fendant pursuant to the settlement agreement. The ac-
counting shall state the total amount paid directly to all 
class members, the actual or estimated total number of 
class members, the number of class members who received 
payments, the average amount (both mean and median) 
paid directly to all class members, the largest amount paid 
to any class member, the smallest amount paid to any 
class member and, separately, each amount paid to any 
other person (including class counsel) and the purpose of 
the payment. In stating the amounts paid to class mem-
bers, no individual class member shall be identified. No 
attorneys’ fees may be paid to class counsel pursuant to 
Rule 23(h) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure until 
the accounting has been submitted. 
‘‘(b) ANNUAL
SETTLEMENT
DISTRIBUTION
RE-
PORTS.—Commencing not later than 12 months after the 
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date of enactment of this Act, the Judicial Conference of 
the United States, with the assistance of the Director of 
the Federal Judicial Center and the Director of the Ad-
ministrative Office of the United States Courts, shall an-
nually prepare and transmit to the Committees on the Ju-
diciary of the Senate and the House of Representatives 
for public dissemination a report summarizing how funds 
paid by defendants in class actions have been distributed, 
based on the settlement accountings submitted pursuant 
to subsection (a). 
‘‘§ 1720. Issues classes 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A Federal court shall not issue 
an order granting certification of a class action with re-
spect to particular issues pursuant to Rule 23(c)(4) of the 
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure unless the entirety of the 
cause of action from which the particular issues arise sat-
isfies all the class certification prerequisites of Rule 23(a) 
and Rule 23(b)(1), Rule 23(b)(2), or Rule 23(b)(3). 
‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION ORDER.—An order issued under 
Rule 23(c)(4) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that 
certifies a class with respect to particular issues shall in-
clude a determination, based on a rigorous analysis of the 
evidence presented, that the requirement in subsection (a) 
of this section is satisfied. 
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‘‘§ 1721. Stay of discovery 
‘‘In any class action, all discovery and other pro-
ceedings shall be stayed during the pendency of any mo-
tion to transfer, motion to dismiss, motion to strike class 
allegations, or other motion to dispose of the class allega-
tions, unless the court finds upon the motion of any party 
that particularized discovery is necessary to preserve evi-
dence or to prevent undue prejudice to that party. 
‘‘§ 1722. Third-party litigation funding disclosure 
‘‘In any class action, class counsel shall promptly dis-
close in writing to the court and all other parties the iden-
tity of any person or entity, other than a class member 
or class counsel of record, who has a contingent right to 
receive compensation from any settlement, judgment, or 
other relief obtained in the action. 
‘‘§ 1723. Appeals 
‘‘A court of appeals shall permit an appeal from an 
order granting or denying class-action certification under 
Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.’’. 
SEC. 4. MISJOINDER OF PLAINTIFFS IN PERSONAL INJURY 
AND WRONGFUL DEATH ACTIONS. 
Section 1447 is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub-
section (e); 
(2) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub-
section (f); and 
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(3) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(d) MISJOINDER OF PLAINTIFFS IN PERSONAL IN-
JURY AND WRONGFUL DEATH ACTIONS.— 
‘‘(1) This subsection shall apply to any civil ac-
tion in which— 
‘‘(A) two or more plaintiffs assert personal 
injury or wrongful death claims; 
‘‘(B) the action is removed on the basis of 
the jurisdiction conferred by section 1332(a); 
and 
‘‘(C) a motion to remand is made on the 
ground that one or more defendants are citizens 
of the same State as one or more plaintiffs. 
‘‘(2) In deciding the remand motion in any such 
case, the court shall apply the jurisdictional require-
ments of section 1332(a) to the claims of each plain-
tiff individually, as though that plaintiff were the 
sole plaintiff in the action. 
‘‘(3) The court shall sever the claims that do 
not satisfy the jurisdictional requirements of section 
1332(a) and shall remand those claims to the State 
court from which the action was removed. The court 
shall retain jurisdiction over the claims that satisfy 
the jurisdictional requirements of section 1332(a).’’. 
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SEC. 5. MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION PROCEEDINGS PROCE-
DURES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 87 is amended by adding 
to section 1407 the following: 
‘‘(i) ALLEGATIONS VERIFICATION.—In any coordi-
nated or consolidated pretrial proceedings conducted pur-
suant to subsection (b), counsel for a plaintiff asserting 
a claim seeking redress for personal injury whose civil ac-
tion is assigned to or directly filed in the proceedings shall 
make a submission sufficient to demonstrate that there 
is evidentiary support (including but not limited to medical 
records) for the factual contentions in plaintiff’s complaint 
regarding the alleged injury, the exposure to the risk that 
allegedly caused the injury, and the alleged cause of the 
injury. The submission must be made within the first 45 
days after the civil action is transferred to or directly filed 
in the proceedings. That deadline shall not be extended. 
Within 30 days after the submission deadline, the judge 
or judges to whom the action is assigned shall enter an 
order determining whether the submission is sufficient and 
shall dismiss the action without prejudice if the submis-
sion is found to be insufficient. If a plaintiff in an action 
dismissed without prejudice fails to tender a sufficient 
submission within the following 30 days, the action shall 
be dismissed with prejudice. 
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‘‘(j) TRIAL PROHIBITION.—In any coordinated or 
consolidated pretrial proceedings conducted pursuant to 
subsection (b), the judge or judges to whom actions are 
assigned by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation 
may not conduct any trial in any civil action transferred 
to or directly filed in the proceedings unless all parties 
to the civil action consent to trial of the specific case 
sought to be tried. 
‘‘(k) REVIEW OF ORDERS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Court of Appeals hav-
ing jurisdiction over the transferee district shall per-
mit an appeal to be taken from any order issued in 
the conduct of coordinated or consolidated pretrial 
proceedings conducted pursuant to subsection (b), 
provided that an immediate appeal from the order 
may materially advance the ultimate termination of 
one or more civil actions in the proceedings. 
‘‘(2) REMAND ORDERS.—Notwithstanding sec-
tion 1447(e), a court of appeals may accept an ap-
peal from an order issued in any coordinated or con-
solidated proceedings conducted pursuant to sub-
section (b) granting or denying a motion to remand 
a civil action to the State court from which it was 
removed if application is made to the court of ap-
peals within 14 days after the order is entered. 
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‘‘(l) ENSURING PROPER RECOVERY
FOR PLAIN-
TIFFS.—The claimants in any civil action asserting a 
claim for personal injury transferred to or directly filed 
in coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings con-
ducted pursuant to subsection (b) shall receive not less 
than 80 percent of any monetary recovery obtained in that 
action by settlement, judgment or otherwise. The judge 
or judges to whom the coordinated or consolidated pretrial 
proceedings have been assigned shall have jurisdiction over 
any disputes regarding compliance with this require-
ment.’’. 
SEC. 6. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY OF SUPREME COURT 
AND JUDICIAL CONFERENCE. 
Nothing in this Act shall restrict in any way the au-
thority of the Judicial Conference and the Supreme Court 
to propose and prescribe general rules of practice and pro-
cedure under chapter 131 of title 28, United States Code. 
SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
The amendments made by the Act shall apply to any 
civil action pending on the date of enactment of this Act 
or commenced thereafter. 
Æ 
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