I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1577
To establish certain uniform legal principles of liability with respect to
manufacturers of products.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 27, 1999
Mr. HOSTETTLER (for himself, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. STUMP, Mr. HAYES, and
Mr. TANCREDO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Com-
merce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To establish certain uniform legal principles of liability with
respect to manufacturers of products.
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 ‘‘Interstate Commerce
Freedom Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDING AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDING.—The Congress finds that the free flow
of interstate commerce is vitally important to the contin-
ued economic vitality of the Nation.
(b) PURPOSE.—Based upon the powers contained in
Article I, section 8, clause 3 of the United States Constitu-
tion, the purpose of this Act is to promote the free flow
of goods and services and to lessen burdens on interstate
commerce by establishing certain uniform legal principles
of liability with respect to manufacturers of products that
have moved in or that otherwise affect interstate com-
merce.
SEC. 3. RELATIONSHIP TO STATE AND FEDERAL LAWS.
(a) RELATIONSHIP TO STATE LAWS.—This Act pre-
empts the laws of any State to the extent that State laws
are inconsistent with this Act, except that this Act shall
not preempt any State law that provides greater protec-
tions from liability for manufacturers.
(b) RELATIONSHIP TO FEDERAL LAWS.—Nothing in
this Act may be construed to supersede or alter any other
Federal law.
SEC. 4. LIABILITY OF MANUFACTURER FOR HARM PROXI-
MATELY CAUSED BY CRIMINAL OR INTEN-
TIONALLY TORTIOUS ACT OF ANOTHER.
In any civil action brought in any State or Federal
court alleging liability of a manufacturer for harm result-
ing from a product of the manufacturer, the manufacturer
shall not be liable for such harm if a proximate cause of
the harm was a criminal or intentionally tortious act of
a person other than the manufacturer.
SEC. 5. LIABILITY OF MANUFACTURER FOR HARM RESULT-
ING FROM SALE OR MARKETING OF PROD-
UCT.
In any civil action brought in any State or Federal
court alleging liability of a manufacturer for harm result-
ing from any sale or marketing of a product of the manu-
facturer, the manufacturer shall not be liable for such
harm unless the manufacturer failed to substantially com-
ply with a State or Federal statute applicable to the sale
or marketing of such product and such failure was a proxi-
mate cause of the harm.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act, the following definitions
shall apply:
(1) CLAIMANT.—The term ‘‘claimant’’ means a
person who brought the civil action against the man-
ufacturer, or a person on whose behalf the civil ac-
tion was brought.
(2) HARM.—The term ‘‘harm’’ includes any
physical, nonphysical, economic, or noneconomic
loss.
(3) MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘‘manufac-
turer’’ means, with respect to a product, any person
who produced, created, made, constructed, or de-
signed the product.
(4) PRODUCT.—The term ‘‘product’’ means any
object or substance produced, created, made, con-
structed, or designed for commercial or personal use
that has moved in or that otherwise affects inter-
state commerce.
(5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any
State of the United States, the District of Columbia,
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mar-
iana 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. 7. APPLICABILITY.
This Act shall apply to any civil action commenced
after the date of enactment of this Act.
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