SB 13

This bill creates discovery and scheduling requirements for certain types of tort

actions and limits a defendant's liability for a plaintiff's injury under certain

circumstances. Under the bill, a plaintiff who files a tort action must disclose, within

30 days after he or she files the action, whether he or she has filed or anticipates filing

a claim against a personal injury trust. A personal injury trust is a trust or

compensation fund that is established pursuant to a bankruptcy or other legal action

in order to compensate persons who file claims as a result of harm potentially

compensable in the plaintiff's tort action, for which the entity that established the

personal injury trust is alleged to be responsible.

Under the bill, if the plaintiff indicates that he or she has filed or anticipates

filing a claim against a personal injury trust, the bill requires the court to stay the

immediate proceedings until the plaintiff produces a final executed proof of claim

against the personal injury trust. The bill also allows a defendant to identify a

personal injury trust not named by the plaintiff, but against whom the defendant

believes the plaintiff has a legitimate claim. If the court agrees that there is a good

faith basis for the plaintiff to file a claim against the personal injury trust, the bill

requires the court to order the plaintiff to file a claim against the trust and stay the

proceedings until the plaintiff produces a final executed proof of claim against the

personal injury trust.

Under the bill, the plaintiff must provide all parties to his or her immediate suit

with all documents, records, trial or discovery materials, and other information

relevant to any claim against a personal injury trust. The bill allows any party to use

these materials in the immediate action to prove alternate causation of, or to allocate

liability for, the plaintiff's injury. The bill allows a defendant in the immediate action

to seek discovery from a personal injury trust against which the plaintiff has filed

or anticipates filing an action.

The bill requires the court to enter into the record a list that identifies each

personal injury claim the plaintiff has made against a personal injury trust.

Under the bill, if a defendant in the immediate action is found liable for the

plaintiff's injury, the defendant is entitled to a setoff in the amount of any money the

plaintiff received from a personal injury trust for a substantially similar injury. If

the immediate action proceeds to trial before the plaintiff's claim against a personal

injury trust is resolved, the bill requires the court to establish an attributed value

to the plaintiff's claim against the personal injury trust and to afford the defendant

a setoff in that amount.