Senate Bill No. 509
(By Senator Oliverio)
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[Introduced March 24, 1997; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend chapter fifty-five of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding
thereto a new article, designated article seven-d, relating
to the creation of the personal responsibility act of 1997;
legislative findings and purpose; civil justice reform; and
providing that persons who are guilty of certain crimes may
not recover damages for injuries received from the
commission of the crimes.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter fifty-five of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new article, designated article seven-d, to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 7D. THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT OF 1997.
§55-7D-1. Legislative findings and purpose.
Insurance costs have skyrocketed for those West Virginians
who have taken responsibility for their actions. Uninsured
motorists, drunk drivers and criminal felons are law breakers,
and should not be rewarded for their irresponsibility and law
breaking. However, under current laws uninsured motorists and
drunk drivers are able to recover unreasonable damages from law
abiding citizens for injuries suffered during the commission of
their crimes. There must be a change in a system that rewards
individuals who fail to take essential personal responsibility to
prevent them from seeking unreasonable damages or from suing law
abiding citizens. Therefore, the Legislature does hereby enact
this measure to restore balance to our justice system by limiting
the right to sue of criminals, drunk drivers and uninsured
motorists.
§55-7-2. Civil justice reform.
(a) In any action for damages based on negligence, a person
may not recover any damages if the plaintiff's injuries were in
any way proximately caused by the plaintiff's commission of any
felony, or any immediate flight therefrom, and the plaintiff has
been duly convicted of that felony.
(b) In any action to recover damages arising out of the
operation or use of a motor vehicle, a person may not recover noneconomic losses to compensated for pain, suffering,
inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement or other
nonpecuniary damages if either of the following applies:
(1) The injured person was the owner of a vehicle operating
the vehicle in violation of section two, article five, chapter
seventeen-c of this code, relating to driving under the influence
of alcohol, controlled substances or drugs and was convicted of
that offense;
(2) The injured person was the owner of a vehicle involved
in the accident and the vehicle was not insured as required by
the financial responsibility laws of this state; and
(3) The injured person was the operator of a vehicle
involved in the accident and the operator cannot establish
financial responsibility as required by the financial
responsibility laws of this state.
(c) An insured may not be liable, directly or indirectly,
under a policy of liability or uninsured motorist insurance to
indemnify for noneconomic losses of a person injured as described
in subsection (b) of this section.
(d) If a person described in subsection (b) of this section
was injured by a motorist who at the time of the accident was
operating a vehicle in violation of the provisions of section
twelve, article four, chapter seventeen-d of this code, relating
to the requirement of proof of financial responsibility and motor vehicle liability insurance coverage and was convicted of that
offense, the injured person may not be barred from recovering
noneconomic losses to compensate for pain, suffering,
inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement and other
nonpecuniary damages.
NOTE: This bill creates the Personal Responsibility Act of
1997 and prohibits persons who are lawbreakers from recovering
damages for injuries received during the commission of their
crimes.
Article 7D is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.