I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5092
To provide for health care liability reform.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 27, 2000
Mr. THORNBERRY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To provide for health care liability reform.
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 ‘‘Health Care Liability
Reform Act’’.
SEC. 2. HEALTH CARE LIABILITY REFORM.
(a) PUNITIVE DAMAGES.—
(1) AWARD.—Punitive damages may, to the ex-
tent permitted by applicable State law, be awarded
against a manufacturer or product seller in a civil
action if the claimant establishes by clear and con-
vincing evidence that the harm suffered was the re-
sult of conduct manifesting actual malice.
(2) DRUGS AND DEVICES.—The manufacturer
of a prescription drug or device and a health care
provider shall not be subject to punitive damages
with respect to harm caused by a drug or device if
the drug or device was approved under the Federal
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act unless—
(A) the manufacturer withholds from the
Food and Drug Administration, or
(B) the health care provider withholds
from a patient,
information which is relevant to the performance of
the drug or device and causally related to the harm
suffered by the plaintiff.
(3) LIMITATION ON AMOUNT.—The amount of
punitive damages that may be awarded for a claim
in any civil action shall not exceed 3 times the
amount awarded to the claimant for the economic
injury on which such claim is based, or $250,000,
whichever is greater.
(b) SEVERAL LIABILITY FOR NONECONOMIC DAM-
AGES.—In any action, the liability of each manufacturer
or product seller of the product involved in such action
shall be several only and shall not be joint for noneconomic
damages. Such manufacturer or product seller shall be lia-
ble only for the amount of noneconomic damages allocated
to such manufacturer or seller in direct proportion to such
manufacturer’s or such seller’s percentage of responsibility
as determined by the trier of fact.
(c) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
(1) CLAIMANT.—The term ‘‘claimant’’ means
any person who brings a product liability action and
any person on whose behalf such an action is
brought, including such person’s decedent if such an
action is brought through or on behalf of an estate
or such person’s legal representative if it is brought
through or on behalf of a minor or incompetent.
(2) MALICE.—The term ‘‘malice’’ means con-
duct that is either—
(A) specifically intended to cause serious
personal injury, or
(B) carried out with both a flagrant indif-
ference to the rights of the claimant and an
awareness that such conduct is likely to result
in serious personal injury.
(3) MANUFACTURER.—With respect to a prod-
uct, the term ‘‘manufacturer’’ means—
(A) any person who is engaged in a busi-
ness to produce, create, make, or construct the
product and who designs or formulates the
product or has engaged another person to de-
sign or formulate the product,
(B) a product seller of the product who,
before placing the product in the stream of
commerce—
(i) designs or formulates or has en-
gaged another person to design or formu-
late an aspect of the product after the
product was initially made by another, and
(ii) produces, creates, makes, or con-
structs such aspect of the product, or
(C) any product seller not described in
subparagraph (B) which holds itself out as a
manufacturer to the user of the product,
(4) PRODUCT.—The term ‘‘product’’—
(A) means any object, substance, mixture,
or raw material in a gaseous, liquid, or solid
state—
(i) which is capable of delivery itself,
in a mixed or combined state, or as a com-
ponent part or ingredient,
(ii) which is produced for introduction
into trade or commerce,
(iii) which has intrinsic economic
value, and
(iv) which is intended for sale or lease
to persons for commercial or personal use,
and
(B) does not include—
(i) human tissue, human organs,
human blood, and human blood products,
or
(ii) electricity, water delivered by a
utility, natural gas, or steam,
(5) PRODUCT
SELLER.—The term ‘‘product
seller’’—
(A) means a person—
(i) who sells, distributes, leases, pre-
pares, blends, packages, or labels a product
or is otherwise involved in placing a prod-
uct in the stream of commerce, or
(ii) who installs, repairs, or maintains
the harm-causing aspect of a product, and
(B) does not include—
(i) a manufacturer,
(ii) a seller or lessor of real property,
(iii) a provider of professional services
in any case in which the sale or use of a
product is incidental to the transaction and
the essence of the transaction is the fur-
nishing of judgment, skill, or services,
(iv) any person who acts only in a fi-
nancial capacity with respect to the sale of
a product, or
(v) any person who leases a product
under a lease arrangement in which the se-
lection, possession, maintenance, and oper-
ation of the product are controlled by a
person other than the lessor.
SEC. 3. PREEMPTION.
This Act preempts State law, with respect to both
procedural and substantive measures, to the extent that
such law—
(1) permits the recovery of a greater amount of
punitive damages by a plaintiff than that authorized
by section 2(a)(3); or
(2) permits an action for joint liability for non-
economic damages against a manufacturer or prod-
uct seller of a product involved in the action, which
action is prohibited by section 2(b).
Any issue that is not governed by this Act shall be gov-
erned by otherwise applicable State or Federal law.
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