101ST CONGRESS 18T SESSION H. R. 3406 To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for Federal jurisdiction of certain multiparty, multiforum civil actions. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 4, 1989 Mr. KASTENMEIER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for Federal jurisdiction of certain multiparty, multiforum civil actions. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 4 This Act may be cited as the "Multiparty, Multiforum 5 Jurisdiction Act of 1989". 6 SEC. 2. JURISDICTION OF DISTRICT COURTS. 7 (a) BASIS OF JURISDICTION.-Chapter 85 of title 28, 8 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 9 following new section: 2 1 "§ 1367. Multiparty, multiforum jurisdiction 2 "(a) The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of 3 any civil action involving minimal diversity between adverse 4 parties that arises from a single event or occurrence, where it 5 is alleged in good faith that any 25 persons have either died 6 or incurred injury in the event or occurrence and that, in the 7 case of injury, the injury has resulted in damages which 8 exceed $50,000 per person, exclusive of interest and costs, 9 if "(1) a defendant resides in a State and a substantial part of the event or occurrence took place in an other State; 10 11 12 13 14 or "(2) any two defendants reside in different States; “(3) substantial parts of the event or occurrence took place in different States. "(b) For purposes 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 sec tion 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 HR 3406 IH 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 in which it is incorporated or licensed to do business or is doing business; and "(3) 'injury' means physical harm to a natural person and physical damage to or destruction of tangi ble property. "(c) In any action in a district court under this section, 7 any person with a claim arising from the event or occurrence 8 described in subsection (a) shall be permitted to intervene as 9 a party plaintiff in the action, even if that person could not 10 have brought an action in a district court as an original 11 matter. 12 "(d) A district court in which an action under this sec13 tion is pending shall promptly notify the judicial panel on 14 multidistrict litigation of the pendency of the action.". 15 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.-The table of sections 16 at the beginning of chapter 85 of title 28, United States 17 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 18 item: "1367. Multiparty, multiforum jurisdiction.". 19 SEC. 3. VENUE. 20 Section 1391 of title 28, United States Code, is amend 21 ed by adding at the end the following: 22 "(g) A civil action in which jurisdiction of the district 23 court is based upon section 1367 of this title may be brought 24 in any district in which any defendant resides or in which a HR 3406 IH 4 1 substantial part of the event or occurrence giving rise to the 2 action took place.". 3 SEC. 4. MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION. 4 Section 1407 of title 28, United States Code, is amend 5 ed by adding at the end the following: 6 "(i)(1) In actions transferred under this section when ju7 risdiction is based in whole or in part on section 1367 of this 8 title, the transferee district court may, notwithstanding any 9 other provision of this section, retain actions so transferred 10 for the determination of liability. An action retained for the 11 determination of liability shall be remanded to the district 12 court from which the action was transferred, or to the State 13 court from which the action was removed, for the determina14 tion of damages unless the court finds, for the convenience of 15 parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice, that the 16 action should be retained for the determination of damages. 17 "(2) Any remand under paragraph (1) shall not be effec18 tive until 60 days after the transferee court has issued an 19 order determining liability and has certified its intention to 20 remand some or all of the transferred actions for the determi21 nation of damages. An appeal with respect to the liability 22 determination and the choice of law determination of the 23 transferee court may be taken during that 60-day period to 24 the court of appeals with appellate jurisdiction over the trans25 feree court. In the event a party files such an appeal, the HR 3406 IH 5 1 remand shall not be effective until the appeal has been finally 2 disposed of. Once the remand has become effective, the liabil3 ity determination and the choice of law determination shall 4 not be subject to further review by appeal or otherwise. 5 "(3) Any decision under this subsection concerning 6 remand for the determination of damages shall not be re 7 viewable by appeal or otherwise.". 8 SEC. 5. REMOVAL OF ACTIONS. 9 Section 1441 of title 28, United States Code, is 10 amended 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 (1) in subsection (e) by striking out "(e) The court to which such civil action is removed" and inserting in lieu thereof "(f) The court to which a civil action is removed under this section"; and (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the following new subsection: "(e)(1) A defendant in a civil action in a State court may 18 remove the action to the United States district court for the 19 district and division embracing the place where the action is 20 pending if 21 22 23 24 25 "(A) the action could have been brought in a United States district court under section 1367 of this title, or "(B) the defendant is a party to an action under section 1367 in a United States district court arising HR 3406 IH |