Senate Bill No. 442
(By Senator Chafin)
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[Introduced January 30, 2002; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section seven, article twelve-a,
chapter twenty-nine of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
governmental tort claims and insurance reform act; and
raising limitation on noneconomic loss.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seven, article twelve-a, chapter twenty-nine
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-
one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 12A. GOVERNMENTAL TORT CLAIMS AND INSURANCE REFORM ACT.
§29-12A-7. Punitive damages not allowed; limitation on
noneconomic loss; joint and several liability.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this code or rules
of a court to the contrary, in an action against a political subdivision or its employee to recover damages for injury,
death, or loss to persons or property for injury, death or loss
to persons or property caused by an act or omission of such the
political subdivision or employee:
(a) In any civil action involving a political subdivision
or any of its employees as a party defendant, an award of
punitive or exemplary damages against such the political
subdivision is prohibited.
(b) There shall not be any limitation on compensatory
damages that represent the economic loss of the person who is
awarded the damages. However, damages awarded that arise from
the same cause of action, transaction or occurrence, or series
of transactions or occurrences that represent noneconomic loss
shall not exceed five hundred thousand dollars in favor of any
one person one million dollars for each occurrence. The
limitation on damages that do not represent the economic loss of
the person who is awarded the damages provided in this
subsection does not apply to court costs that are awarded to a
plaintiff or to interest on a judgment rendered in favor of a
plaintiff in an action against a political subdivision or its
employees.
(c) In the trial of an action covered by the provisions of
this article 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 possible verdicts as
determined by the court.
(d) In every such action, the court shall make findings as
to the total dollar amount awarded as damages to each plaintiff.
The court shall enter judgment of joint and several liability
against every defendant who 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 who bear less than twenty-five percent of
the negligence attributable to all defendants.
(e) Each defendant against whom a judgment of joint and
several liability is entered in an action pursuant to subsection
(d) 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 or her. A right of
contribution exists in favor of each defendant who has paid to
a plaintiff more than the percentage of the dollar amount
awarded attributable to him or her relative to the percentage of
negligence attributable to him or her. 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 or her relative to the percentage of negligence attributable to him or her. No
right of contribution exists against any defendant who entered
into 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 to the total dollar amount awarded as damages.
(f) Where a right of contribution exists in an action
pursuant to subsection (e) 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to raise the limitations
or noneconomic loss under the Governmental Tort Claims and
Insurance Reform Act.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.