Senate Bill No. 525
(By Senators Humphreys, Burdette, Mr. President,
Macnaughtan and Grubb)
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[Introduced March 22, 1993; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section nine, article seven-b,
chapter fifty-five of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
medical malpractice; and providing that the home of a health
care provider is exempt from any recovery under an award of
damages in a malpractice action.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section nine, article seven-b, chapter fifty-five of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7B. MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY.
§55-7B-9. Joint and several liability.
(a) In the trial of a medical professional liability action
against a health care provider involving multiple defendants, the
jury shall be required to report its findings to the court on a
form provided by the court which contains each of the possibleverdicts as determined by the court.
(b) In every medical professional liability action, the
court shall make findings as to the total dollar amount awarded
as damages to each plaintiff. The court shall enter judgement of
joint and several liability against every defendant which bears
twenty-five percent or more of the negligence attributable to all
defendants. The court shall enter judgment of several, but not
joint, liability against and among all defendants which bear less
than twenty-five percent of the negligence attributable to all
defendants.
(c) Each defendant against whom a judgement of joint and
several liability is entered in a medical professional liability
action pursuant to subsection (b) of this section is liable to
each plaintiff for all or any part of the total dollar amount
awarded regardless of the percentage of negligence attributable
to him. A right of contribution exists in favor of each
defendant who has paid to a plaintiff more than the percentage of
the total dollar amount awarded attributable to him relative to
the percentage of negligence attributable to him. The total
amount of recovery for contribution is limited to the amount paid
by the defendant to a plaintiff in excess of the percentage of
the total dollar amount awarded attributable to him relative to
the percentage of negligence attributable to him. No right of
contribution exists against any defendant who entered in to a
good faith settlement with the plaintiff prior to the jury's
report of its findings to the court or the court's findings as tothe total dollar amount awarded as to damages.
(d) Where a right of contribution exists in a medical
professional liability action pursuant to subsection (c) of this
section, the findings of the court or jury as to the percentage
of negligence and liability of the several defendants to the
plaintiff shall be binding among such defendants as determining
their rights of contribution.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of this code to the
contrary, the home of a health care provider is exempt from a
lien or attachment if the lien or attachment is required to
satisfy an award of court costs or damages resulting from an
action under the provisions of this article.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to exempt the home of a
health care provider from lien or attachment if the lien or
attachment is required to satisfy an award of court costs or
damages in a malpractice action.)