Senate Bill No. 318
(By Senators Dugan, Wiedebusch, Oliverio, Sharpe,
Ross, Buckalew, Anderson, Manchin, Deem and Bowman)
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[Introduced February 10, 1995; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article seven, chapter fifty-five of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
eighteen, relating to barring certain civil actions for
damages against the victims and witnesses of crimes by the
persons committing such crimes.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article seven, chapter fifty-five of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
eighteen, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7. ACTIONS FOR INJURIES.
§55-7-18. Immunity of victims and witnesses from suits by
convicted criminals.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,
no individual or organization, who or which shall have been the
victim of criminal conduct, for which any other person or
organization shall have been lawfully and finally convicted, or
who or which shall have provided testimony or other evidence
which led to the arrest, indictment or conviction of any such
person or organization lawfully and finally convicted of any
criminal conduct, shall be liable for any civil damages to such
convicted person or organization for any act or omission arising
in connection with the circumstances surrounding such criminal
conduct or proximately resulting from such circumstances:
Provided, That such immunity from liability to such convicted
person or organization shall not be asserted by any individual or
organization who or which shall also have been lawfully and
finally convicted of criminal conduct for any act or omission
arising in connection with the circumstances surrounding the
other convicted person's or organization's criminal conduct or
any individual or organization who or which was engaged in any act or omission arising in connection with the circumstances
surrounding the other convicted person's or organization's
criminal conduct, but was not prosecuted only because of the use
of prosecutorial discretion. This section shall be liberally
construed to effect its remedial purposes, to-wit: The
deterrence of crime and the protection of the victims of crime
and of witnesses assisting in the investigation and prosecution
of crimes.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide civil
liability immunity to the victims of crimes and to witnesses who
provide evidence in the investigation and prosecution of crimes.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.