H.B. 67

1

PAYMENT OF LEGAL FEES AND COSTS OF
2 FRIVOLOUS LAWSUITS
3 1998 GENERAL SESSION
4 STATE OF UTAH
5 Sponsor: Dennis H. Iverson
6 AN ACT RELATING TO THE JUDICIAL CODE; ALLOWING THE COURT TO AWARD
7 REASONABLE ATTORNEY'S FEES TO A PARTY IN A CIVIL ACTION WHO WAS
8 SUBJECT TO FRIVOLOUS CONDUCT.
9 This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
10 REPEALS AND REENACTS:
11 78-27-56, as last amended by Chapter 92, Laws of Utah 1988
12 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
13 Section 1. Section 78-27-56 is repealed and reenacted to read:
14 78-27-56. Attorney's fees -- Award where action or defense is frivolous.
15 (1) As used in this section:
16 (a) "Conduct" means filing a civil action, asserting a claim, defense, or other position in
17 connection with a civil action, or taking any other action in connection with a civil action.
18 (b) "Frivolous conduct" means conduct of a party to a civil action or of his counsel of
19 record that:
20 (i) obviously serves merely to harass or maliciously injure another party to the civil action,
21 or;
22 (ii) is not supported in fact or warranted under existing law and cannot be supported by
23 a good faith argument for an extension, modification, or reversal of existing law.
24 (2) In civil actions, the court shall award reasonable attorney's fees to a prevailing party
25 if the court determines that the other party's conduct during the action was frivolous.
26 (3) The court shall, upon motion of either party, hold a hearing to determine whether
27 particular conduct of a party was frivolous. Notice of the hearing shall be given to all parties to

1 the civil action in which the conduct alleged to be frivolous occurred.
2 (4) In connection with the hearing, the court may order each party who may be awarded
3 reasonable attorney's fees and his counsel of record to submit to the court for consideration an
4 itemized list of the legal services necessitated by the alleged frivolous conduct, the time expended
5 in rendering the services, and the attorney's fees associated with those services.
6 (5) The amount of an award made pursuant to this section may not exceed the attorney's
7 fees that were both reasonably incurred by a party and necessitated by the frivolous conduct.
8 (6) An award of reasonable attorney's fees pursuant to this section may be made against
9 a party, his counsel of record, or both.




Legislative Review Note
as of 1-8-98 11:06 AM

A limited legal review of this bill raises no obvious constitutional or statutory concerns.

Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel

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