Bill Text: TX HB1855 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to mandatory disclosure of third-party litigation financing agreements.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-03-04 - Referred to Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence [HB1855 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HB1855-Introduced.html
83R9173 AJA-F | ||
By: Miller of Comal | H.B. No. 1855 |
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relating to mandatory disclosure of third-party litigation | ||
financing agreements. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 22, Government Code, is | ||
amended by adding Section 22.018 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 22.018. DISCLOSURE OF THIRD-PARTY LITIGATION | ||
FINANCING. (a) In this section: | ||
(1) "Financing" means the provision of monetary or | ||
in-kind support for a party's filing and prosecution of a civil | ||
action, including the payment of an attorney to represent the | ||
party, the payment of any fees for any witnesses for the party, the | ||
payment of any fees for any experts for the party, or the payment of | ||
any costs of the civil action. | ||
(2) "Third-party litigation financing" means the | ||
provision of financing to a person or group of persons that is or | ||
may become a party to a civil action, or an attorney for the person | ||
or group, with repayment of the financing being conditioned on and | ||
sourced from the person's proceeds from the civil action by | ||
judgment, settlement, or otherwise. The term does not include: | ||
(A) any extension of credit from any person to | ||
any attorney licensed by the supreme court to practice law where the | ||
obligation of the attorney to repay all or part of the extension of | ||
credit, including any interest on the extended credit, is not | ||
contingent on the outcome of a specified civil action or portfolio | ||
of civil actions in which the attorney is representing a person | ||
other than the attorney, whether or not the credit agreement | ||
provides the creditor a security interest in any proceeds of any | ||
civil action in which the attorney is representing a person other | ||
than the attorney; or | ||
(B) any contingent fee arrangement entered into | ||
by an attorney licensed by the supreme court to practice law. | ||
(b) The supreme court shall adopt rules to provide for the | ||
mandatory disclosure of third-party litigation financing | ||
agreements to parties in a civil action in connection with which | ||
third-party litigation financing is provided. | ||
SECTION 2. The Supreme Court of Texas shall adopt rules | ||
under Section 22.018, Government Code, as added by this Act, not | ||
later than December 31, 2013. The rules apply only to a civil | ||
action commenced on or after the effective date of the rules. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013. |