The Senate Judiciary Committee heard SB 55, Sen. Steele’s bill on medical malpractice actions that permits a patient to bring an action against a health care provider without submitting the complaint to the Medical Review Board if the amount of the claim is not more than $187,000. Under current law, a patient may bring a direct action only if the amount is not more than $15,000. A … [Read more...] about Medical malpractice actions
Judgments
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard SB 354, Sen. Steele’s bill on judgments, providing that a judgment creditor may require a judgment debtor to appear in court to provide information concerning the judgment debtor's income and assets: (1) at any time, if the judgment debtor's circumstances have changed; or (2) not more than one time every six months. It also permits a court, after … [Read more...] about Judgments
Judgment dockets
The House Courts and Criminal Code Committee heard Rep. Richardson’s HB 1141 pertaining to judgment dockets. This bill was prepared at the request of the Supreme Court Records Management Committee to clarify changes made last session to the judgment docket. The bill specifies that the clerk of the circuit court is the official keeper of the judgment docket and shall keep the j … [Read more...] about Judgment dockets
Statute of limitations for rape
The Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee heard SB 94, Sen. Crider’s bill on the statute of limitations for rape. Sen. Crider explained that the bill would allow the state to bring rape charges otherwise time-barred if the charges are filed within five years of the time that (1) the state first discovers DNA evidence sufficient to charge the offender or, (2) a person c … [Read more...] about Statute of limitations for rape
Credit time
The Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee heard SB 175, Sen. Young’s bill establishing uniform terminology for sentence credit time. Sen. Young explained that the bill would not change the law but would clarify terminology by enacting the following definitions: "accrued time" would mean “the amount of time that a person is imprisoned or confined”; "educational credit" wou … [Read more...] about Credit time