The Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2013 (H.R. 2655) is a bill that would amend Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to require courts to impose appropriate sanctions on attorneys, law firms, or parties who file frivolous lawsuits and to require them to compensate parties injured by such conduct.[1] The compensation would cover the attorney fees and other lawsuit-related costs that the defendant in the frivolous lawsuit had to pay.[2] The bill would also remove the provision of Rule 11 allowing attorneys or parties who file frivolous papers to avoid party-requested sanctions by withdrawing their lawsuits before 21 days have passed.[2] The bill was introduced in the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress. On November 14, 2013 the bill passed the House, but was never passed by the Senate.[3]
Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2013
Long title
To amend Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to improve attorney accountability, and for other purposes.
The Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2013 would amend the sanctions provisions in Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to require the court to impose an appropriate sanction on any attorney, law firm, or party that has violated, or is responsible for the violation of, the rule with regard to representations to the court. The bill would require any sanction to compensate parties injured by the conduct in question.[4]
The bill removes a provision that prohibits filing a motion for sanctions if the challenged paper, claim, defense, contention, or denial is withdrawn or appropriately corrected within 21 days after service or within another time the court sets.[4]
The bill also authorizes the court to impose additional sanctions, including striking the pleadings, dismissing the suit, non-monetary directives, or penalty payments if warranted for effective deterrence.[4]
Congressional Budget Office reportEdit
This summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Budget Office, as ordered reported by the House Committee on the Judiciary on September 11, 2013. This is a public domain source.[1]
H.R. 2655 would amend Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to require courts to impose appropriate sanctions on attorneys, law firms, or parties who file frivolous lawsuits and to require them to compensate parties injured by such conduct.[1] Under current law, courts may, but are not required to, impose such sanctions.
Under the legislation, any monetary sanction imposed under Rule 11 would be paid by the parties to the suit. Thus, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that implementing the bill would result in no significant impact on the federal budget.[1] Enacting H.R. 2655 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.[1]
H.R. 2655 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.[1]
Rep. Lamar Smith argued in favor of the bill and getting rid of the 21-day safe-harbor provision, stating that it would help end lawyers filing frivolous lawsuits when they have "everything to gain and nothing to lose" by doing so.[2] Smith also said that "Lawyers can file meritless lawsuits, and defendants are faced with the choice of years of litigation, high court costs and attorneys' fees or a settlement," and called the practice "legalized extortion."[2]
Republicans argue in favor of the bill as being needed to help protect companies from expensive and wasteful lawsuits. Democrats argued that the bill is unnecessary since judges already have the option of imposing sanctions.[8]
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The Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2013 H R 2655 is a bill that would amend Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to require courts to impose appropriate sanctions on attorneys law firms or parties who file frivolous lawsuits and to require them to compensate parties injured by such conduct 1 The compensation would cover the attorney fees and other lawsuit related costs that the defendant in the frivolous lawsuit had to pay 2 The bill would also remove the provision of Rule 11 allowing attorneys or parties who file frivolous papers to avoid party requested sanctions by withdrawing their lawsuits before 21 days have passed 2 The bill was introduced in the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress On November 14 2013 the bill passed the House but was never passed by the Senate 3 Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2013Long titleTo amend Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to improve attorney accountability and for other purposes Announced inthe 113th United States CongressSponsored byRep Lamar Smith R TX 21 Number of co sponsors6Legislative historyIntroduced in the House as H R 2655 by Rep Lamar Smith R TX 21 on July 11 2013Committee consideration by United States House Committee on the Judiciary United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice Contents 1 Provisions of the bill 2 Congressional Budget Office report 3 Procedural history 4 Debate and discussion 5 See also 6 Notes References 7 External linksProvisions of the bill EditThis summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Research Service a public domain source 4 The Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2013 would amend the sanctions provisions in Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to require the court to impose an appropriate sanction on any attorney law firm or party that has violated or is responsible for the violation of the rule with regard to representations to the court The bill would require any sanction to compensate parties injured by the conduct in question 4 The bill removes a provision that prohibits filing a motion for sanctions if the challenged paper claim defense contention or denial is withdrawn or appropriately corrected within 21 days after service or within another time the court sets 4 The bill also authorizes the court to impose additional sanctions including striking the pleadings dismissing the suit non monetary directives or penalty payments if warranted for effective deterrence 4 Congressional Budget Office report EditThis summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Budget Office as ordered reported by the House Committee on the Judiciary on September 11 2013 This is a public domain source 1 H R 2655 would amend Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to require courts to impose appropriate sanctions on attorneys law firms or parties who file frivolous lawsuits and to require them to compensate parties injured by such conduct 1 Under current law courts may but are not required to impose such sanctions Under the legislation any monetary sanction imposed under Rule 11 would be paid by the parties to the suit Thus the Congressional Budget Office CBO estimated that implementing the bill would result in no significant impact on the federal budget 1 Enacting H R 2655 would not affect direct spending or revenues therefore pay as you go procedures do not apply 1 H R 2655 contains no intergovernmental or private sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state local or tribal governments 1 Procedural history EditThe Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2013 was introduced on July 11 2013 by Rep Lamar Smith R TX 21 5 It was referred to the United States House Committee on the Judiciary and the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice The House Judiciary committee voted to report the bill on September 11 2013 by a vote of 17 10 5 House Report 113 255 was released to accompany the bill on October 30 2013 5 On November 8 2013 House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced that the bill would be considered during the week of November 11 2013 6 The House was scheduled to work on this bill on November 14 2013 7 Debate and discussion EditRep Lamar Smith argued in favor of the bill and getting rid of the 21 day safe harbor provision stating that it would help end lawyers filing frivolous lawsuits when they have everything to gain and nothing to lose by doing so 2 Smith also said that Lawyers can file meritless lawsuits and defendants are faced with the choice of years of litigation high court costs and attorneys fees or a settlement and called the practice legalized extortion 2 Republicans argue in favor of the bill as being needed to help protect companies from expensive and wasteful lawsuits Democrats argued that the bill is unnecessary since judges already have the option of imposing sanctions 8 See also EditList of bills in the 113th United States Congress Attorneys in the United States Sanctions law Frivolous litigation Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2015Notes References Edit a b c d e f CBO H R 2655 Congressional Budget Office 24 September 2013 Retrieved 13 November 2013 a b c d Kasperowicz Pete 5 November 2013 House GOP looking to limit asbestos actions frivolous lawsuits The Hill Retrieved 13 November 2013 Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2013 2013 H R 2655 a b c d H R 2655 Summary United States Congress Retrieved 13 November 2013 a b c H R 2655 All Actions United States Congress Retrieved 13 November 2013 Leader s Weekly Schedule Week of November 11 2013 PDF House Majority Leader s Office Archived from the original PDF on 2 December 2013 Retrieved 11 November 2013 Kasperowicz Pete 8 November 2013 A closer look at next week The Hill Retrieved 13 November 2013 Kasperowicz Pete 13 November 2013 House advances bills on asbestos transparency frivolous lawsuits The Hill Retrieved 13 November 2013 External links Edit nbsp Wikisource has original text related to this article Portal Acts of the United States Congresses Acts of the 113th United States Congress Library of Congress Thomas H R 2655 beta congress gov H R 2655 GovTrack us H R 2655 OpenCongress org H R 2655 WashingtonWatch com H R 2655 Congressional Budget Office report on H R 2655 nbsp This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Government Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2013 amp oldid 1148034202, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
