HOUSE AMENDMENT

    hbd-06                                         Bill No. HB 775

    Amendment No.     (for drafter's use only)

                            CHAMBER ACTION
              Senate                               House
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 5                                           ORIGINAL STAMP BELOW

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10                                                                

11  Representative(s) Bloom offered the following:

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13         Amendment (with title amendment) 

14         On page 28, between lines 10 and 11, of the bill

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16  insert:

17         (2)  In any civil action, an award of punitive damages

18  is payable as follows:

19         (a)  Sixty-five percent of the award is payable to the

20  claimant.

21         (b)  If the cause of action was based on personal

22  injury or wrongful death, 35 percent of the award is payable

23  to the Public Medical Assistance Trust Fund; otherwise, 35

24  percent of the award is payable to the General Revenue Fund.

25         (3)  The clerk of the court shall transmit a copy of

26  the jury verdict to the State Treasurer by certified mail. In

27  the final judgment, the court shall order the percentages of

28  the award, payable as provided in subsection (2).

29         (4)  A settlement agreement entered into between the

30  original parties to the action after a verdict has been

31  returned must provide a proportionate share payable to the

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    File original & 9 copies    03/08/99
    hbd0005                     02:07 pm         00775-0106-872681




                                                   HOUSE AMENDMENT

    hbd-06                                         Bill No. HB 775

    Amendment No.     (for drafter's use only)





 1  fund specified in paragraph (2)(b). For purposes of this

 2  subsection, a proportionate share is a 35-percent share of

 3  that percentage of the settlement amount which the punitive

 4  damage portion of the verdict bore to the total of the

 5  compensatory and punitive damages in the verdict.

 6         (5)  The Department of Banking and Finance shall

 7  collect or cause to be collected all payments due the state

 8  under this section. Such payments are made to the Comptroller

 9  and deposited in the appropriate fund specified in subsection

10  (2).

11         (6)  If the full amount of punitive damages awarded

12  cannot be collected, the claimant and the other recipient

13  designated pursuant to paragraph (2)(b) are each entitled to a

14  proportional share of the punitive damages collected.

15         (7)  Claimant's attorney's fees, if payable from the

16  judgment, are, to the extent that they are based on the

17  punitive damages, calculated based only on the portion of the

18  judgment payable to the claimant as provided in subsection

19  (2). Nothing herein limits the payment of attorney's fees

20  based upon the award of damages other than punitive damages.

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23  ================ T I T L E   A M E N D M E N T ===============

24  And the title is amended as follows:

25         On page 3, line 18,

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27  after the semicolon insert:

28         requiring an allocation of a share of punitive

29         damages to the state; providing a procedure;

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    File original & 9 copies    03/08/99
    hbd0005                     02:07 pm         00775-0106-872681