SB3322sam001 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Sen. Don Harmon

Filed: 3/15/2010

09600SB3322sam001 LRB096 17078 RPM 38966 a

AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 3322

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 3322 as follows:

on page 5, immediately below line 1, by inserting the following:

"The contract shall contain the following statement located above the signature line: "The consumer understands and agrees that the funds received from this Non-Recourse Civil Litigation Funding shall not be used to pay for litigation costs related to the underlying Legal claim.""; and

on page 5, by replacing line 2 through line 4 with the following:

"(6) The contract for nonrecourse civil litigation funding shall contain a written acknowledgement by the consumer that he or she has reviewed the contract in its entirety, that he or she shall notify his or her current attorney and any successor attorneys representing him or her in the legal claim of the existence of the transaction and shall instruct the nonrecourse civil litigation funding company to provide the attorney with a copy of the contract. Additionally, before obtaining any additional or subsequent nonrecourse civil litigation funding, the consumer will notify his or her attorney and receive prior written permission for such transaction from the prior civil litigation funding company."; and

on page 5, by deleting line 5 through line 24; and

by replacing line 25 on page 5 through line 21 on page 7 with the following:

"Section 15. Priorities. Any attorney's lien, Medicare lien, Medicaid lien, or health care provider lien against the consumer's legal claim shall take priority over any lien of the civil litigation funding company.

Section 20. Standards and practices. Each civil litigation funding company shall adhere to the following:

(1) The civil litigation funding company shall not pay or offer to pay commissions or referral fees to any attorney or employee of a law firm or to any medical provider, chiropractor, or physical therapist or their employees for referring a consumer to the civil litigation funding company. The civil litigation funding company agrees not to accept any commissions, referral fees, or rebates from any attorney or employee of a law firm or any medical provider, chiropractor, or physical therapist or their employees, other than what is agreed to be paid to the civil litigation funding company out of the proceeds of the legal claim pursuant to the signed contract between the consumer and the civil litigation funding company.

(2) The civil litigation funding company shall not advertise false or intentionally misleading information regarding its product or services.

(3) The civil litigation funding company shall not knowingly provide funding to a consumer who has previously sold and assigned an amount of his potential proceeds from his legal claim to another civil litigation funding company without first purchasing that civil litigation funding company's entire accrued balance unless otherwise agreed in writing by the civil litigation funding companies and the consumer.

(4) The civil litigation funding company shall not offer single premium credit life, disability, or unemployment insurance that is to be financed through a civil litigation funding transaction.

(5) For non-English speaking consumers, upon the written request of the consumer, the principal terms of the contract must be translated in writing into the consumer's primary language, the consumer must sign the translated document containing the principal terms and initial each page, and the translator or lawyer must sign an affirmation confirming that the principal terms have been presented to the consumer in the consumer's primary language and acknowledged by the consumer. Principal terms shall include all items that must be disclosed by this Section.".