HOUSE AMENDMENT Bill No. HB 63B
1	CHAMBER ACTION
2	Senate House
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12	Representative Sorensen offered the following:
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14	Amendment (with title amendment)
15	Between lines 1835 and 1836, insert:
16	Section 38. Section 766.2015, Florida Statutes, is created
17	to read:
18	766.2015 Frivolous claims.--
19	(1) In any civil litigation resulting from a medical
20	malpractice claim, the prevailing party, after judgment in the
21	trial court and exhaustion of all appeals, if any, may receive
22	his or her reasonable attorney’s fees and costs from the
23	nonprevailing party if the court finds that there was a complete
24	absence of a justiciable issue of either law or fact raised by
25	the losing party or if the court finds bad faith on the part of
26	the losing party.
27	(2) The attorney for the prevailing party shall submit to
28	the trial judge who presided over the civil case a sworn
29	affidavit of his or her time spent on the case and the costs
30	incurred by the prevailing party for all the motions, hearings,
31	and appeals.
32	(3) The trial judge may award the prevailing party the sum
33	of reasonable costs incurred in the action plus a reasonable
34	attorney's fee for the hours actually spent on the case as sworn
35	to in an affidavit.
36	(4) Any award of attorney’s fees or costs shall become a
37	part of the judgment and shall be subject to execution as
38	provided by law.
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40	================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T =================
41	Remove line 152, and insert:
42	negligence; creating s. 766.2015, F.S.; providing for the award
43	of prevailing party attorney’s fees and costs for frivolous
44	claims; amending s. 766.202, F.S.; redefining the