Report Title:
Medical Torts; Fee; Evidence
Description:
Requires a claimant who rejects the decision of a medical claim conciliation panel and subsequently institutes litigation to pay a fee of $10,000 to the court. Allows a refund of the $10,000 if the claimant prevails in court. Allows the claimant to use a decision, conclusion, finding, or recommendation of the medical claim conciliation panel as evidence at trial.
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
3192 |
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TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to medical torts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The purpose of this Act is to require a claimant who rejects the decision of a medical claim conciliation panel on a claim and subsequently institutes litigation to pay a fee of $10,000 to the court; provided that the fee is refundable if the claimant prevails in court. This Act also allows the decision, conclusion, finding, or recommendation of the medical claim conciliation panel to be submitted as evidence in court.
SECTION 2. Section 671-16, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§671-16 Subsequent litigation;
excluded evidence. (a) The claimant may institute litigation based
upon the claim in an appropriate court only after a party to a medical claim
conciliation panel hearing rejects the decision of the panel[,] or after
the twelve-month period under section 671-18 has expired. A claimant who
rejects the decision of a medical claim conciliation panel on a claim and subsequently
institutes litigation based upon the claim shall pay a fee of $10,000 to the
court when instituting the action or proceeding. This fee shall be additional
to all other fees and costs imposed upon the claimant pursuant to chapter 607.
The court may waive or reduce the fee in accordance with section 607-3. The
court shall refund the fee if the claimant prevails in the appropriate court.
(b) No statement made in the course of
the hearing of the medical claim conciliation panel shall be admissible in
evidence either as an admission, to impeach the credibility of a witness, or
for any other purpose in any trial of the action; provided that such statements
may be admissible for the purpose of section 671-19[, hereof. No decision,
conclusion, finding, or recommendation of the medical claim conciliation panel
on the issue of liability or on the issue of damages shall be admitted into
evidence in any subsequent trial, nor shall any party to the medical claim
conciliation panel hearing, or the counsel or other representative of such
party, refer or comment thereon in an opening statement, an argument, or at any
other time, to the court or jury; provided that such decision, conclusion,
finding, or recommendation may be admissible for the purpose of section 671-19,
hereof]."
SECTION 3. This Act shall apply to any medical tort claim submitted to a medical claim conciliation panel in accordance with section 671-12, Hawaii Revised Statutes, after June 30, 2008.
SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2008.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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