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United States · Bill · S

S. 1836 (108th)

Legal Expense Equity Act of 2003

referredUnited States· United States Congress· EN

Introduced

6 November 2003

Last action

6 November 2003 · Introduced

Status

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Sponsors

Sen. Graham, Lindsey [R-SC], Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX], Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA]

Subjects

Discovery layer

Source updated

10 August 2026

Summary

Legal Expense Equity Act of 2003 - Amends the Federal judicial code to authorize parties in civil diversity litigation to serve written settlement offers on an adverse party at any time not less than 10 days before trial. Authorizes the court, at any time before judgment is entered, to exempt from settlement any claim that presents a novel and important question of law or fact that substantially affects nonparties. Voids all settlement offers made by the parties with respect to such exempted claims. Authorizes an offeror whose proposed settlement was declined by an offeree to file a petition with the court seeking payment by the offeree of costs and fees, including attorney's fees, from the date of the last settlement offer by either party if the ultimate judgment or order is not more favorable to the offeree than the proposed settlement. Requires the court to order payment by the offeree in such circumstances unless requiring payment would be manifestly unjust. Limits attorney's fees ordered under this Act to: (1) the actual attorney's fees incurred by the offeree in connection with the claim; or (2) if no such cost was incurred due to a contingency fee agreement, a reasonable cost that would have been incurred by the offeree absent a contingency fee agreement. States that this Act does not apply to claims seeking equitable remedies.

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

Timeline

  1. 6 November 2003

    Introduced

    Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

    Source: IntroReferral

  2. 6 November 2003

    Introduced

    Introduced in Senate

    Source: IntroReferral

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

Documents

3 official files

Introduced in Senate (text)

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  • Introduced in Senate (text)

    Introduced in Senate · EN · 6 November 2003

    ViewDownloadOpen at official source

  • Introduced in Senate (PDF)

    Introduced in Senate · EN · 6 November 2003

    ViewDownloadOpen at official source

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  • Introduced in Senate

    summary · EN · 6 November 2003

    Open at official source

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Sponsors

Related records

Sources

PoliticalRepo is an index and interpretation layer, not the authoritative legal source.