January 20, 2006
SENATE BILL No. 296
_____
DIGEST OF SB 296
(Updated January 18, 2006 6:39 pm - DI 106)
Citations Affected: IC 34-51.
Synopsis: Communications of sympathy and punitive damages.
Permits the attorney general's office to negotiate and compromise the
portion of a punitive damages award that is to be paid to the state.
Provides that the state's interest in a punitive damages award is
effective when a finder of fact announces a verdict that includes
punitive damages.
Effective: July 1, 2006.
January 9, 2006, read first time and referred to Committee on Judiciary.
January 19, 2006, amended, reported favorably _ Do Pass.
January 20, 2006
Second Regular Session 114th General Assembly (2006)
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SENATE BILL No. 296
A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning civil
procedure.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana:
SOURCE: IC 34-51-3-6; (06)SB0296.1.1. -->
SECTION 1. IC 34-51-3-6 IS AMENDED TO READ AS
FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2006]: Sec. 6. (a) Except as
provided in IC 13-25-4-10, when a
judgment finder of fact announces
a verdict that includes a punitive damage award
is entered in a civil
action, the party against whom the judgment was entered shall:
(1) pay the punitive damage award to the clerk of the court where
the action is pending;
and
(2) notify the office of the attorney general of the punitive
damage award.
(b) Upon receiving the payment described in subsection (a), the
clerk of the court shall:
(1) pay the person to whom punitive damages were awarded
twenty-five percent (25%) of the punitive damage award; and
(2) pay the remaining seventy-five percent (75%) of the punitive
damage award to the treasurer of state, who shall deposit the
funds into the violent crime victims compensation fund
established by IC 5-2-6.1-40.
(c) The office of the attorney general may negotiate and
compromise a punitive damage award described in subsection
(b)(2).
(d) The state's interest in a punitive damage award described in
subsection (b)(2) is effective when a finder of fact announces a
verdict that includes punitive damages.