SCS/HB 2590 - This act provides that the terms "officer" or "employee", for purposes of determining who is covered by the state legal expense fund, shall not include any offender in claims in which both the claimant and a person against whom a claim is made were, at the time of the event giving rise to the claim, offenders in the custody of the Department of Corrections, including work release outside of a correctional center. The act also provides that the terms "public employees" and "employee of the public entity", for purposes of determining state sovereign immunity protection, shall not include any offender in claims in which both the claimant and a person against whom a claim is made were, at the time of the event giving rise to the claim, offenders in the custody of the department of corrections, including work release outside of a correctional center. The act abrogates any court decision issued after August 13, 1978, that interprets these terms to the contrary.
Currently, the state legal expense fund is liable, excluding punitive damages, for all economic damages to any one claimant and up to $350,000 for noneconomic damages for any judgment against a state officer or employee for claims arising from the operation of a motor vehicle or from causing a dangerous condition of property. This act limits the amount of liability for such claims to 2 million dollars for all claims arising from a single occurrence, and $300,000 for any one person in a single accident or occurrence. Also, if either of these two types of claims are brought against the state or a state entity and are also brought against an officer or employee thereof, the maximum allowable recovery shall be reduced by any amount paid towards the claim by the state, its entities, its officers or employees, or anyone acting on their behalf.
Currently, state entities waive their immunity for liability for claims arising from the operation of a motor vehicle, up to the dollar amount provided in current law. This act provides that if an operator of a motor vehicle owned or operated on behalf of the state or its entities is found to be immune from liability for any reason, the state or its public entities shall have no liability.
The act also repeals provisions of current law that allow a plaintiff in a negligence action against the Department of Transportation to request that the case be arbitrated.
This act contains provisions that are identical to SB 1024 (2008).
ALEXA PEARSON