Delaware Senate Bill 60 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-1)
Status: Enrolled on May 16 2013 - 75% progression, died in chamber
Action: 2013-06-12 - Amendment HA 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

This bill would allow a person or party that has suffered a loss, damages, or injury as the result of the intentional fraud or criminal misconduct of an attorney during the course of a civil action in the Courts of the State of Delaware to bring suit against the attorney, the attorney’s law firm, and any other person or legal entity, including, but not limited to, any party to the civil action, that aided, abetted, or conspired with the attorney, or participated in the course of the intentional fraud or criminal misconduct. The bill would allow the injured person or party to recover civil damages and reasonable attorney’s fees. The bill would also allow the injured person or party to recover costs, prejudgment and post-judgment interest, and punitive damages, as such damages are generally available in cases of intentional fraud and criminal misconduct. The types of criminal misconduct that would give rise to such a cause of action would include, but not be limited to, perjury, tampering with physical evidence, criminal conspiracy, and hindering prosecution. The bill contains language that makes the provisions of the bill retroactive to the intentional fraud or criminal misconduct of an attorney occurring on or after January 1, 2007. Therefore, a person suffering loss, damages or injury, on or after January 1, 2007, due to the intentional fraud or criminal misconduct of an attorney, shall have the right to file and maintain the cause of action provided for in this bill. The bill is derived, in part, from a New York statute which grants a cause of action against attorneys for misconduct. The New York statute expressly allows an award of treble damages. The impetus for this bill arises from a case in the Delaware Superior Court involving brain and other injuries to an infant less than two weeks old. When the defendants whose negligence caused the infant’s injuries learned of the infant’s hospitalization, they altered the infant’s medical records in an apparent attempt to absolve themselves from liability. When a lawsuit was filed in the Delaware Superior Court on the infant’s behalf, the attorneys representing the defendants learned of the alteration of the medical records and were provided with copies of the original medical records before they were altered. However, the attorneys not only failed to disclose the original medical records to the infant’s attorney, but also affirmatively relied upon the altered medical records to defend the case. The defendants testified under oath at deposition about the infant’s medical records and testified as if the altered records were the true, original records of the infant’s examination, despite their knowledge to the contrary. The attorneys representing the defendants at their depositions permitted them to testify as if the altered records were the original records of the infant’s examination, even though they had copies of the original records in their possession. The existence of the original medical records later came to light in a separate lawsuit, after the infant’s original lawsuit was over.

An Act To Amend Title 10 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Courts And Judicial Procedure And Personal Actions.

Sen. Bruce Ennis [D]	Sen. Harris McDowell [D]	Rep. Helene Keeley [D]	Sen. Patricia Blevins [D]
Sen. Catherine Cloutier [R]	Rep. Michael Barbieri [D]	Rep. Stephanie Bolden [D]	Rep. Debra Heffernan [D]
Rep. Paul Baumbach [D]

2013-05-16 - Senate - Senate Third Reading (Y: 18 N: 1 NV: 1 Abs: 1) [PASS]

Date	Chamber	Action
2013-06-12	House	Amendment HA 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
2013-05-30	House	Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House
2013-05-16	Senate	Passed by Senate. Votes: Passed 18 YES 1 NO 1 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT 0 VACANT
2013-05-16	Senate	Amendment SA 1 - Passed by Senate. Votes: Passed 16 YES 2 NO 1 NOT VOTING 2 ABSENT 0 VACANT
2013-05-15	Senate	Amendment SA 1 - Introduced and Placed With the Bill in Senate
2013-05-15	Senate	Reported Out of Committee (JUDICIARY) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits
2013-05-02	Senate	Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate

Type	Source
Summary	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/2bede841c6272c888025698400433a04/5ea8242f0bd9140585257b5100597627?OpenDocument
Text	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/vwLegislation/SB+60/$file/legis.html?open
Roll Call	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis147.nsf/7712cf7cc0e9227a852568470077336f/745447a5ae3bb79c85257b6d00688edb?OpenDocument