CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
SENATE AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS for SB 378
Amendment No.
CHAMBER ACTION
Senate House
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11 Senator Webster moved the following amendment:
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13 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
14 On page 4, line 27, through page 5, line 15, strike all
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17 and insert: intentional misconduct or gross negligence and
18 that the award is not excessive in light of the facts and
19 circumstances which were presented to the trier of fact.
20 (c) This subsection is not intended to prohibit an
21 appropriate court from exercising its jurisdiction under s.
22 768.74 in determining the reasonableness of an award of
23 punitive damages that is less than three times the amount of
24 compensatory damages.
25 (2)(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), punitive
26 damages may not be awarded against a defendant in a civil
27 action if that defendant establishes, before trial, that
28 punitive damages have previously been awarded against that
29 defendant in any state or federal court in any action alleging
30 harm from the same act or single course of conduct for which
31 the claimant seeks compensatory damages. For purposes of a
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11:57 AM 03/09/99 s0378c1c-1210a
SENATE AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS for SB 378
Amendment No.
1 civil action, the term "the same act or single course of
2 conduct" includes acts resulting in the same manufacturing
3 defects, acts resulting in the same defects in design, or
4 failure to warn of the same hazards, with respect to similar
5 units of a product.
6 (b) In subsequent civil actions involving the same act
7 or single course of conduct for which punitive damages have
8 already been awarded, if the court determines by clear and
9 convincing evidence that the amount of prior punitive damages
10 awarded was insufficient to punish that defendant's behavior,
11 the court may permit a jury to consider an award of subsequent
12 punitive damages. In permitting a jury to consider awarding
13 subsequent punitive damages, the court shall make specific
14 findings of fact in the record to support its conclusion. In
15 addition, the court may consider whether the defendant's act
16 or course of conduct has ceased. Any subsequent punitive
17 damage awards must be reduced by the amount of any earlier
18 punitive damage awards rendered in state or federal court.
19 (3) The claimant attorney's fees, if payable from the
20 judgment, are, to the extent that the fees are based on the
21 punitive damages, calculated based on the final judgment for
22 punitive damages. This subsection does not limit the payment
23 of attorney's fees based upon an award of damages other than
24 punitive damages.
25 (4)(2) The jury may neither be instructed nor informed
26 as to the provisions of this section.
27 (5) The provisions of this section are remedial in
28 nature and must be applied to all civil actions pending on
29 October 1, 1999, in which the trial or retrial of the action
30 has not commenced.
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SENATE AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS for SB 378
Amendment No.
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2 And the title is amended as follows:
3 On page 1, line 19, after the semicolon
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5 insert:
6 prohibiting the award of subsequent punitive
7 damages against a defendant if punitive damages
8 were previously awarded against the defendant
9 for harm arising out of the same act or single
10 course of conduct; providing an exception;
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