COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2870
(By Delegates Fleischauer, Hrutkay, Manchin, Doyle,
Hatfield, Marshall, Ellis, Shook, Guthrie and Mahan)
(Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary)
[February 22, 2007]
A BILL to amend and reenact §48-26-603 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to authorizing the court
to order payment into the Domestic Violence Legal Services
Fund under certain circumstances.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §48-26-603 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 26. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT.
§48-26-603. Domestic Violence Legal Services Fund.
(a) There is hereby established in the State Treasury a
special revenue account, designated as the "Domestic Violence Legal
Services Fund," which shall be an appropriated fund for receipt of
grants, gifts, fees, or federal or state funds designated for legal
services for domestic violence victims. Expenditures from the fund
shall be limited to attorneys employed by domestic violence
shelters, or employed by nonprofit agencies which establish a collaborative relationship with a domestic violence shelter, that
provide civil legal services to victims of domestic violence.
(b) Any court of this state may order a nonprevailing party to
pay an amount equivalent to the reasonable attorney's fee to which
the prevailing litigant would be entitled into the Domestic
Violence Legal Services Fund, established in subsection (a) of this
section, if the following circumstances occur:
(1) A prevailing litigant is entitled by statute or common law
to a reasonable attorney's fee, and
(2) The prevailing litigant's legal counsel informs the court
that no fee will be requested.