Protecting Americans from Russian Litigation Act of 2024

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9563 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9563

  To amend title 28, United States Code, to limit the availability of 
   civil actions affected by United States sanctions, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 12, 2024

Mr. Hunt (for himself, Mr. Ivey, Mr. Issa, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Fitzgerald, 
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia, and Ms. Lee of Florida) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 28, United States Code, to limit the availability of 
   civil actions affected by United States sanctions, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Americans from Russian 
Litigation Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the policy of the United States--
            (1) to ensure that United States persons are not 
        disadvantaged for actions or omissions undertaken to comply 
        with United States sanctions and export controls; and
            (2) to ensure that foreign persons, or those acting on 
        their behalf, cannot obtain compensation for any action 
        directly or indirectly related to United States persons 
        attempting in good faith to comply with their obligations under 
        United States sanctions.

SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON CIVIL ACTIONS AFFECTED BY UNITED STATES 
              SANCTIONS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 111 of title 28, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 1660. Limitation on civil actions affected by United States 
              sanctions
    ``(a) Limitation.--Notwithstanding any provision of law, a person 
may not bring a civil action in Federal court to obtain relief for a 
claim where--
            ``(1) the underlying conduct or circumstances giving rise 
        to the claim resulted from the imposition of United States 
        sanctions impeding the performance of a contract (whether 
        directly or indirectly, or in whole or in part); and
            ``(2) the United States sanctions described in paragraph 
        (1) went into effect after the date on which the contract was 
        executed.
    ``(b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section may be 
construed to limit--
            ``(1) the authority of the President, or any delegate of 
        the President (including the Office of Foreign Asset Control of 
        the Department of the Treasury), to restrict or authorize legal 
        services, to enter into a settlement agreement, or to enforce 
        any lien, judgment, arbitral award, decree, or other order 
        through execution, garnishment, or other judicial process; or
            ``(2) any right, remedy, or cause of action available to a 
        victim of international terrorism, torture, extrajudicial 
        killing, aircraft sabotage, or hostage taking, who is, or was 
        at the time of the victim's injury, a national of the United 
        States, a member of the United States Armed Forces, an employee 
        of the United States Government, or an individual performing a 
        contract awarded by the United States Government acting within 
        the scope of their employment, or a family member of any such 
        victim, under any applicable State or Federal law, including--
                    ``(A) chapter 97 of this title;
                    ``(B) chapter 113B of title 18; and
                    ``(C) the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human 
                Rights Act of 2012 (22 U.S.C. 8701 et seq.), and any 
                other laws providing for the application of sanctions 
                with respect to Iran or Syria.
    ``(c) United States Sanctions Defined.--In this section, the term 
`United States sanctions' means any prohibition, restriction, or 
condition on transactions involving property in which any foreign 
country or national thereof has an interest that is imposed by the 
United States to address threats to the national security, foreign 
policy, or economy of the United States pursuant to--
            ``(1) section 203 of the International Emergency Economic 
        Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702); or
            ``(2) any other provision of law, including any export 
        controls.''.
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