1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to civil actions; prohibiting the use of 
  1.3             certain government data by certain parties to civil 
  1.4             actions against long-term care providers; limiting 
  1.5             noneconomic damages in certain civil actions against 
  1.6             long-term care providers; providing a limitation 
  1.7             period for bringing certain actions based on tort 
  1.8             against a long-term care provider; amending Minnesota 
  1.9             Statutes 2002, section 541.07; proposing coding for 
  1.10            new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 144A; repealing 
  1.11            Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 626.5573. 
  1.12  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.13     Section 1.  [144A.80] [DEFINITIONS.] 
  1.14     Subdivision 1.  [APPLICATION.] The definitions in this 
  1.15  section apply to sections 144A.81 and 144A.82. 
  1.16     Subd. 2.  [LONG-TERM CARE PROVIDER.] "Long-term care 
  1.17  provider" means: 
  1.18     (1) a person licensed as a boarding care home under 
  1.19  sections 144.56 and 144A.02 to 144A.08; 
  1.20     (2) a person that furnishes continuing care within the 
  1.21  meaning of section 80D.02, subdivision 2; 
  1.22     (3) a person that provides home care service as defined in 
  1.23  section 144A.43; 
  1.24     (4) a hospice program as defined by section 144A.48, 
  1.25  subdivision 1, clause (3); 
  1.26     (5) a housing with services establishment as defined by 
  1.27  section 144D.01, subdivision 4; 
  1.28     (6) a nursing home as defined by section 144A.01, 
  2.1   subdivision 5; or 
  2.2      (7) a person that owns or operates elderly assisted living 
  2.3   facility property as defined in section 273.13, subdivision 25a. 
  2.4      Subd. 3.  [CONSUMER.] "Consumer" means a recipient of goods 
  2.5   or services from a long-term care provider, or the recipient's 
  2.6   agents, assigns, successors, heirs, or third-party beneficiaries.
  2.7      Sec. 2.  [144A.81] [GOVERNMENT DATA INADMISSIBLE AS 
  2.8   EVIDENCE IN CERTAIN ACTIONS.] 
  2.9      Government data pertaining to or derived from the 
  2.10  administration of state or local government programs of 
  2.11  licensure, certification, registration, accreditation, 
  2.12  receivership, permitting, complaint investigation, abuse and 
  2.13  neglect investigation, or any similar state or local government 
  2.14  regulatory function may not be introduced as evidence by a 
  2.15  consumer in a civil action against a long-term care provider.  
  2.16  For purposes of this section, "civil action" does not include 
  2.17  actions to which the only parties other than a long-term care 
  2.18  provider are the state, a political subdivision, multiple 
  2.19  political subdivisions, or any combination of the state and one 
  2.20  or more political subdivisions. 
  2.21     Sec. 3.  [144A.82] [DAMAGE LIMITATION.] 
  2.22     (a) In a civil action by a consumer against a long-term 
  2.23  care provider, the consumer may not recover more than $250,000 
  2.24  in noneconomic damages. 
  2.25     (b) For the purposes of this section, "noneconomic damages" 
  2.26  means subjective, nonpecuniary damages arising from death, 
  2.27  disfigurement, pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, 
  2.28  worry, emotional distress, loss of society or companionship, 
  2.29  loss of consortium, bystander injury, physical impairment, 
  2.30  injury to reputation, humiliation, embarrassment, loss of the 
  2.31  enjoyment of life, hedonic damages, other nonpecuniary damages, 
  2.32  and any similar kinds of damages, such as fear of loss, illness, 
  2.33  or injury.  Noneconomic damages does not include pecuniary 
  2.34  damages. 
  2.35     (c) For the purposes of this section, "economic damages" 
  2.36  means objectively verifiable pecuniary damages arising from 
  3.1   medical expenses and medical care, rehabilitation services, 
  3.2   custodial care, disabilities, loss of earnings and earning 
  3.3   capacity, loss of income, loss of use of property, cost of 
  3.4   repair or replacement of property, cost of obtaining substitute 
  3.5   domestic services, loss of employment, loss of business 
  3.6   opportunities, burial costs, and other objectively verifiable 
  3.7   monetary losses. 
  3.8      Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 541.07, is 
  3.9   amended to read: 
  3.10     541.07 [TWO- OR THREE-YEAR LIMITATIONS.] 
  3.11     Except where the Uniform Commercial Code, this section, 
  3.12  section 148A.06, 541.05, 541.073, or 541.076 otherwise 
  3.13  prescribes, the following actions shall be commenced within two 
  3.14  years: 
  3.15     (1) for libel, slander, assault, battery, false 
  3.16  imprisonment, or other tort, resulting in personal injury, and 
  3.17  all actions against veterinarians as defined in chapter 156, for 
  3.18  malpractice, error, mistake or failure to cure, whether based on 
  3.19  contract or tort; provided a counterclaim may be pleaded as a 
  3.20  defense to any action for services brought by a veterinarian 
  3.21  after the limitations period if it was the property of the party 
  3.22  pleading it at the time it became barred and was not barred at 
  3.23  the time the claim sued on originated, but no judgment thereof 
  3.24  except for costs can be rendered in favor of the party so 
  3.25  pleading it; 
  3.26     (2) an action based on tort by a consumer, as defined by 
  3.27  section 144A.80, subdivision 3, against a long-term care 
  3.28  provider, as defined by section 144A.80, subdivision 2; 
  3.29     (3) upon a statute for a penalty or forfeiture, except as 
  3.30  provided in sections 541.074 and 541.075; 
  3.31     (3) (4) for damages caused by a dam, other than a dam used 
  3.32  for commercial purposes; but as against one holding under the 
  3.33  preemption or homestead laws, the limitations shall not begin to 
  3.34  run until a patent has been issued for the land so damaged; 
  3.35     (4) (5) against a master for breach of an indenture of 
  3.36  apprenticeship; the limitation runs from the expiration of the 
  4.1   term of service; 
  4.2      (5) (6) for the recovery of wages or overtime or damages, 
  4.3   fees or penalties accruing under any federal or state law 
  4.4   respecting the payment of wages or overtime or damages, fees or 
  4.5   penalties except, that if the employer fails to submit payroll 
  4.6   records by a specified date upon request of the department of 
  4.7   labor and industry or if the nonpayment is willful and not the 
  4.8   result of mistake or inadvertence, the limitation is three 
  4.9   years.  (The term "wages" means all remuneration for services or 
  4.10  employment, including commissions and bonuses and the cash value 
  4.11  of all remuneration in any medium other than cash, where the 
  4.12  relationship of master and servant exists and the term "damages" 
  4.13  means single, double, or treble damages, accorded by any 
  4.14  statutory cause of action whatsoever and whether or not the 
  4.15  relationship of master and servant exists); 
  4.16     (6) (7) for damages caused by the establishment of a street 
  4.17  or highway grade or a change in the originally established 
  4.18  grade; 
  4.19     (7) (8) against the person who applies the pesticide for 
  4.20  injury or damage to property resulting from the application, but 
  4.21  not the manufacture or sale, of a pesticide. 
  4.22     Sec. 5.  [REPEALER.] 
  4.23     Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 626.5573, is repealed. 
  4.24     Sec. 6.  [EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION.] 
  4.25     Sections 1 to 5 are effective the day following final 
  4.26  enactment and apply to actions commenced on or after that date.