H. B. 3208
(By Delegate Williams)
[Introduced March 30, 2001; referred to the
Committee on Health and Human Resources then the
Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article eleven-a, chapter
four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended; and to further amend said article by
adding thereto two new sections, designated sections four and
five, all relating to providing that medical monitoring may
not be awarded against participants in the tobacco master
settlement agreement; preserving traditional actions for
actual injury; and providing for applicability.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article eleven-a, chapter four of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that said article be further amended
by adding thereto two new sections, designated sections four and
five, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 11A. LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIATION OF TOBACCO SETTLEMENT FUNDS.
§4-11A-1. Legislative findings and purpose.
(a) On the twenty-third day of November, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-eight, tobacco product manufacturers entered into a
settlement agreement with the state. This "master settlement
agreement" releases those manufacturers from past, present and
specific future claims against them in return for payment of annual
sums of money to the state, obligates the manufacturers to change
their advertising and marketing practices, and requires the
establishment by the manufacturers of a national foundation for the
interests of public health.
(b) The revenues received pursuant to the master settlement
agreement are directly related to the past, present and future
costs incurred by the state for the treatment of tobacco related
illnesses. The purpose of this article is to preserve the revenues
received from the settlement.
(c) The receipt of funds in accordance with the master
settlement agreement shall be deposited only in accordance with the
provisions of this article.
(d) West Virginia receives approximately seventy million
dollars in revenue each year under the terms of the master
settlement agreement with the tobacco manufacturers. This revenue
is used to fund programs of vital importance to the people of West
Virginia, and the Legislature finds that it is in the best interest of the people of this state to protect these revenues.
§4-11A-4. Tobacco settlement trust fund protection.
(a) In order to protect the trust funds established in
subsection (b) of section two and subsection (a) of section three
of this article, a court may not allow or consider a cause of
action for medical monitoring or order relief in the form of
medical monitoring in any civil action against a party who is a
signatory or a successor to a signatory to the master settlement
agreement. As used in this section, "medical monitoring" includes
medical examinations, diagnostic tests or other medical procedures,
or a series of tests or procedures, performed for the purpose of
detecting the presence of a particular disease or injury.
(b) The preceding subsection is not intended to preclude the
recovery of medical treatment costs as damages in a personal injury
suit by a plaintiff who establishes an actual physical injury, to
the extent such costs are an allowable item of damages under
existing law.
§4-11A-5. Applicability.
The provisions of this article shall apply to any action which
is pending in the courts of this state on the effective date of
this article, and to any action which is filed in this state on or
after the effective date.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to protect the state's
stream of revenue from tobacco companies under the master
settlement agreement and related settlement agreements by
prohibiting medical monitoring claims against signatories of the
agreement.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
§§4-11A-4 and 5 are new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.