Bill Text: NY S05637 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires a court to award reasonable attorneys' fees and costs incurred for meritless actions and abusive lawsuits when it has granted a motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-05-03 - RECOMMIT, ENACTING CLAUSE STRICKEN [S05637 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-S05637-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5637 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN SENATE April 24, 2017 ___________ Introduced by Sen. ALCANTARA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to attor- neys' fees and costs for meritless actions and abusive lawsuits The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The civil practice law and rules is amended by adding a new 2 section 8101-a to read as follows: 3 § 8101-a. Attorneys' fees and costs for meritless actions and abusive 4 actions. 1. Where a court grants a motion to dismiss for failure to 5 state a cause of action upon which relief may be granted, the court 6 shall award the party or parties against whom the dismissed claims were 7 asserted reasonable attorneys' fees and costs incurred in the proceeding 8 as a consequence of the dismissed claims. 9 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the court 10 shall not require a party to pay attorneys' fees and costs under this 11 section in excess of fifteen thousand dollars in any single lawsuit. 12 3. This section shall not apply to: 13 a. actions by the state, other government entities, or public offi- 14 cials acting in their official capacity or under color of law; 15 b. any claim that is dismissed by the granting of a motion to dismiss 16 that was filed more than sixty days after the moving party received 17 service of the latest complaint, counter-complaint or cross-complaint in 18 which that dismissed claim was made; 19 c. any claim that the party against whom the motion to dismiss was 20 granted in good faith amended to state a claim upon which relief may be 21 granted; 22 d. actions by pro se litigants, except where the court also finds that 23 the pro se party acted unreasonably in bringing, or refusing to volun- 24 tarily withdraw, the dismissed claim; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD09746-01-7S. 5637 2 1 e. any claim which is a good faith, non-frivolous claim for the 2 express purpose of extending, modifying, or reversing existing prece- 3 dent, law or regulation, or for the express purpose of establishing the 4 meaning, lawfulness or constitutionality of a law, regulation or consti- 5 tutional right where the issue is a matter of first impression or 6 subject to conflicting interpretations. This subdivision shall not apply 7 when the party that asserted the dismissed claim specifically pleaded 8 that the dismissed claim was made for one of the express purposes listed 9 above and cited the contrary precedent or interpretation the party seeks 10 to distinguish or overcome, or whether the issue to be decided is a 11 matter of first impression or conflicting interpretations as described 12 in this subdivision; or 13 f. any claim for which relief could be granted under a law, regu- 14 lation, a court precedent that was in effect and applicable to the claim 15 at the time the claim was filed; where that law, regulation, or prece- 16 dent was cited in the pleading in which the dismissed claim was made or 17 in the response to the motion to dismiss; and where court granted the 18 motion to dismiss the claim due to the subsequent repeal, amendment, 19 overruling, or distinguishing of that law, regulation, or court prece- 20 dent. 21 4. An award pursuant to this section shall be made only after all 22 appeals of the issue of the granting of the motion to dismiss have been 23 exhausted and if the final outcome is the granting of the motion to 24 dismiss. 25 5. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the award of 26 attorneys' fees, costs, or sanctions authorized by other law. 27 § 2. Subdivision (a) of section 8303-a of the civil practice law and 28 rules, as amended by chapter 620 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read 29 as follows: 30 (a) If in an action to recover damages for personal injury, injury to 31 property or wrongful death, or an action brought by the individual who 32 committed a crime against the victim of the crime, and such action or 33 claim is commenced or continued by a plaintiff or a counterclaim, 34 defense or cross claim is commenced or continued by a defendant and is 35 found, at any time during the proceedings or upon judgment, to be frivo- 36 lous by the court, the court shall award to [the successful] each 37 prevailing party costs and reasonable attorney's fees not exceeding 38 [ten] twenty-five thousand dollars for each frivolous claim, defense or 39 cross claim. 40 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
