STAND

STAND. COM. REP. NO.1205

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 980

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 980, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CIVIL SETTLEMENTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make clarifying and housekeeping amendments to §663-15.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to:

(1) Require that the notice, petition, and proposed order of good-faith settlement (petition) be served on all other joint tortfeasors or co-obligors known or should have been known to the petitioning party;

(2) Require that the petition be served as provided by the Hawaii Rules of Civil Procedure or by certified mail;

(3) Allow written indemnity agreements to supersede the bar on other claims against the settling tortfeasor or co-obligor;

(4) Require the settling entity and any apportionment of fault of the settling entity to be placed on the verdict or judgment form at the request of any non-settling party;

(5) Allow non-settling parties to present evidence at trial as to the apportionment of fault of the settling entity; and

(6) Allow a non-settling party to obtain a judgment pursuant to the Hawaii Rules of Civil Procedure as a matter of law prior to or during trial.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Department of the Attorney General, Hawaii Insurers Council, and a concerned citizen.

Your Committee finds that Act 300, 2001 Session Laws of Hawaii amended the Uniform Contribution Among Tortfeasors Act to include what is now §663-15.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS). This new section was added to address the issue of release of settling joint tortfeasors or co-obligors from a law suit. Certain portions of §663-15.5, HRS, are unclear, however, creating uncertainty as to the practical effect of the section.

Interested parties support the intent of the bill but are working on further language refinements. The Senate Majority Attorney (SMA) expressed concerns about certain provisions in the measure. These concerns were communicated to proponents of the measure, and your Committee was assured that the proponents shared SMA's concerns and were already addressing those provisions. Therefore, to allow the bill to proceed to a conference committee, your Committee amended the effective date of the bill from "upon its approval" to December 6, 2050.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 980, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 980, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

		____________________________ COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair