Senate Bill No. 215
(By Senators Carmichael and Blair)
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         [Introduced February 19, 2013; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary          .]                            
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §55-7-27, relating to limiting the amount of punitive damages recoverable in a personal injury or wrongful death action.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
    That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §55-7-27, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7. ACTIONS FOR INJURIES.
55-7-27. Limits on punitive damages.
    (a) In an action to recover damages for personal injury or wrongful death, the maximum amount recoverable as punitive damages may not exceed $500,000, or two times the plaintiff's compensatory damages award, whichever is less.
    (b) For purposes of this section, "punitive damages" means noncompensatory damages awarded against a party in a personal injury or wrongful death action to penalize that party or to provide a deterrence to discourage similar conduct by that party in the future.
    (c)Nothing in this section may be construed to create a claim for punitive damages not existing in this code at the time of enactment of this section.



    NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to place limits on the amount of punitive damages that may be awarded in a personal injury or wrongful death action.


    This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.