A bill to provide uniform standards for the award of punitive damages for volunteer services.

Summary

Authorizes punitive damages to be awarded against a defendant, to the extent permitted by applicable State law, if the claimant establishes by clear and convincing evidence that conduct carried out by the defendant with a conscious, flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of others was the proximate cause of the harm that is the subject of the civil action where the claim relates to: (1) volunteer services performed by the defendant for a government entity or a not-for-profit organization organized and conducted for public benefit and operated primarily for charitable, civic, educational, religious, welfare, or health purposes; or (2) activities or services performed by such a not-for-profit organization, excluding health care providers. Limits the amount of punitive damages that may be awarded in such an action to: (1) the greater of twice the sum of the amount awarded to the claimant for economic loss and non-economic loss or $250,000, in general; and (2) the lesser of twice that sum or $250,000 in any such action against an individual whose net worth does not exceed $500,000 or against an owner of an unincorporated business or any partnership, corporation, association, congregation, unit of local government, or organization which has fewer than 25 full-time employees. Makes exceptions to such limits on punitive damages: (1) for particular categories of misconduct, such as where that misconduct constitutes a hate crime or a crime of violence or act of international terrorism for which the defendant has been convicted; and (2) where such limits would result in an award that is insufficient to punish the egregious conduct of the defendant or to deter such conduct in the future. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) consideration of punitive damages in a separate proceeding at the request of any party; and (2) inadmissibility of evidence relative only to a claim of punitive damages in a proceeding concerning compensatory damages.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

3 official files

• Placed on Calendar Senate (text)

  Placed on Calendar Senate · EN · 15 March 1996

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Placed on Calendar Senate (PDF)

  Placed on Calendar Senate · EN · 15 March 1996

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 14 March 1996

  Open at official source

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.