H.R. 1768: Multidistrict Litigation Restoration Act of 2004

Before you vote › Federal bills

H.R. 1768: Multidistrict Litigation Restoration Act of 2004

108th Congress · introduced 2003-04-11 · Law · Latest: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

federal

Save to my notebook What does this mean? Print

Official title

Multidistrict Litigation Restoration Act of 2004

Plain summary

Multidistrict Litigation Restoration Act of 2003 - Amends the Federal judicial code to allow a civil action transferred for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings (multidistrict litigation) to be transferred to the transferee or other district for trial purposes in the interest of justice and for the convenience of the parties and witnesses. Directs that any such action transferred for trial purposes be remanded to the district court from which it was transferred for the determination of compensatory damages unless the court determines the same justification applies to retaining the action for damages determination. Provides that, in actions transferred when jurisdiction is or could have been based on the Multiparty, Multiforum Trial Jurisdiction Act of 2002 (granting district courts original jurisdiction of any civil action involving minimal diversity between adverse parties that arises from a single accident, where at least 75 natural persons have died in the accident at a discrete location), the transferee court may retain actions so transferred for the determination of liability and punitive damages. Directs that an action retained for the determination of liability be remanded to the district 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 damages, 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. Modifies the definition of "accident" under that Act to mean specified events resulting in death incurred at a discrete location by at least 25 (currently, 75) natural persons.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

What a vote does

PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).

The strongest published arguments

Alternatives

Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Sensenbrenner, F. James, Jr. [R-WI-5] · 2 cosponsors

Cost estimate: CBO cost estimate: H.R. 1768, Multidistrict Litigation Restoration Act of 2003 (2004-02-09); CBO cost estimate: H.R. 1768, Multidistrict Litigation Restoration Act of 2003 (2004-02-09)

Cosponsors on this site

Recorded votes

• House roll call 79 (2004): On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended, HR1768 (2004-03-24): Passed

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-108hr1768.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/108/hr>

Record fed-us-cong108-hr1768 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong108 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong108