HF 3046

as introduced - 83rd Legislature (2003 - 2004) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to civil actions; providing standards for 
  1.3             award of certain attorney fees and costs; proposing 
  1.4             coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 549. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  [549.255] [ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS AFTER 
  1.7   SETTLEMENT OFFER.] 
  1.8      Subdivision 1.  [APPLICATION.] This section applies to the 
  1.9   award of attorney fees and costs in connection with claims, 
  1.10  counter claims, cross-claims, or third-party claims to recover 
  1.11  monetary damages where no other statute provides for the award 
  1.12  of attorney fees and costs.  
  1.13     A settlement offer must: 
  1.14     (1) be in writing; 
  1.15     (2) state the proposed terms of settlement; 
  1.16     (3) state a deadline for acceptance of the settlement 
  1.17  offer, which must be not sooner than 14 days after the offer is 
  1.18  made; and 
  1.19     (4) be served on all parties to whom the settlement offer 
  1.20  is made. 
  1.21     Subd. 2.  [AWARDING ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS.] If a 
  1.22  settlement offer is made and rejected and a subsequently 
  1.23  rendered judgment for damages is less favorable to the rejecting 
  1.24  party, the rejecting party must pay attorney fees and costs of 
  1.25  the party making the settlement offer.  
  2.1      Subd. 3.  [CALCULATING ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS.] (a) The 
  2.2   attorney fees and costs that may be recovered under this section 
  2.3   are those incurred by the offering party after the date the 
  2.4   rejecting party rejected the settlement offer.  The total 
  2.5   awarded must not be greater than an amount determined as follows:
  2.6      (1) calculating the sum of 50 percent of economic damages 
  2.7   awarded to the claimant, 100 percent of noneconomic damages 
  2.8   awarded to the claimant, and 100 percent of any punitive 
  2.9   damages; and 
  2.10     (2) subtracting from the amount in clause (1) the amount of 
  2.11  any statutory or contractual liens in connection with the 
  2.12  circumstance giving rise to the claim. 
  2.13     (b) If attorney fees and costs are awarded against a 
  2.14  claimant, they must be awarded as an offset against the 
  2.15  claimant's recovery from the defendant. 
  2.16     Sec. 2.  [EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION.] 
  2.17     Section 1 applies to actions commenced on or after August 
  2.18  1, 2004.