| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 99 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To require a particular jury instruction in Federal civil actions that include |
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| 6 | 6 | | a claim for damages based on negligence arising from the transmission |
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| 7 | 7 | | of COVID19. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | JANUARY3, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. B |
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| 11 | 11 | | IGGSof Arizona introduced the following bill; which was referred to the |
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| 12 | 12 | | Committee on the Judiciary |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To require a particular jury instruction in Federal civil ac- |
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| 15 | 15 | | tions that include a claim for damages based on neg- |
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| 16 | 16 | | ligence arising from the transmission of COVID19. |
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| 17 | 17 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 18 | 18 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 19 | 19 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 20 | 20 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Businesses 4 |
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| 21 | 21 | | From Frivolous COVID Lawsuits Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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| 22 | 22 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:14 Jan 29, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H99.IH H99 |
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| 23 | 23 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 24 | 24 | | •HR 99 IH |
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| 25 | 25 | | SEC. 2. JURY INSTRUCTION IN FEDERAL CIVIL ACTIONS 1 |
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| 26 | 26 | | THAT INCLUDE A CLAIM ALLEGING NEG-2 |
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| 27 | 27 | | LIGENCE ARISING FROM THE TRANSMISSION 3 |
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| 28 | 28 | | OF COVID–19. 4 |
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| 29 | 29 | | In a Federal civil action that includes a claim alleging 5 |
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| 30 | 30 | | negligence arising from the transmission of COVID–19 6 |
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| 31 | 31 | | and a request for damages, the court shall instruct a jury 7 |
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| 32 | 32 | | that— 8 |
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| 33 | 33 | | (1) the liability standard is the reasonable per-9 |
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| 34 | 34 | | son standard, 10 |
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| 35 | 35 | | (2) a person is negligent if the person either 11 |
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| 36 | 36 | | does something that a reasonably careful person 12 |
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| 37 | 37 | | would not do in the same situation, or fails to do 13 |
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| 38 | 38 | | something that a reasonably careful person would 14 |
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| 39 | 39 | | do, in the same situation, 15 |
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| 40 | 40 | | (3) the act of opening a business, by itself, shall 16 |
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| 41 | 41 | | be considered to be reasonable as a matter of law, 17 |
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| 42 | 42 | | and 18 |
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| 43 | 43 | | (4) the negligence may not be found solely on 19 |
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| 44 | 44 | | the basis of holding oneself open for business. 20 |
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| 45 | 45 | | Æ |
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| 46 | 46 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:14 Jan 29, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H99.IH H99 |
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| 47 | 47 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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