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Introduced Version House Bill 2867 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted


H. B. 2867

(By Delegates Staton, Varner, McGraw, H. White and Keener)

[Introduced March 15, 2001; Referred to

the Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]






A Bill to amend and reenact section twenty-one, article two, chapter forty-eight-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to requiring that attorneys employed by the child support enforcement division practice competently; providing for sanctions and damages and abrogating any immunity heretofore enjoyed for malpractice by such attorneys.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-one, article two, chapter forty-eight-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WEST VIRGINIA SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION; CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT DIVISION; ESTABLISHMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
§48A-2-21. Attorneys representing state.

(a) Attorneys employed by the child support enforcement division may represent this state or another state in an action brought under the authority of federal law of this chapter.
(b) An attorney employed by the child support enforcement division or employed by a person or agency or entity pursuant to a contract with the child support enforcement division represents the interest of the state or the division and not the interest of any other party. The child support enforcement division shall, at the time an application for child support services is made, inform the applicant that any attorney who provides services for the child support enforcement division is the attorney for the state of West Virginia and that the attorney providing those services does not provide legal representation to the applicant.
(c) An attorney employed by the child support enforcement division or pursuant to a contract with the child support enforcement division may not be appointed or act as a guardian ad litem or attorney ad litem for a child or another party.
(d) An attorney employed by the child support enforcement division shall practice competently in all respects, and such attorney and the child support enforcement division are jointly liable for sanctions, punitive damages and actual damages resulting from the failure of such attorney or attorneys to practice correctly and competently. To the extent that there has been any immunity whatsoever conferred upon such attorneys in the past, whether the same be judicially created or judicially implied, such immunity is hereby expressly overruled.

Note: The purpose of this Bill is to require competent and correct practice by attorneys of the Child Support Enforcement Division, and to abrogate any prior judicially created immunity regarding malpractice by such attorneys.


Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
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