Bill Text: MS HB1529 | 2016 | Regular Session | Enrolled

Mississippi House Bill 1529 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Appeal bond requirements; revise.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2016-05-13 - Approved by Governor [HB1529 Detail]

Download: Mississippi-2016-HB1529-Enrolled.html

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2016 Regular Session

To: Judiciary A

By: Representative Gunn

House Bill 1529

(As Sent to Governor)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 11-51-31, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE REQUIREMENTS FOR APPEAL BONDS TO STAY AN EXECUTION OF A JUDGMENT IN CIVIL ACTIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 11-51-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

11-51-31. (1) A supersedeas shall not be granted in any case pending before the Supreme Court, unless the party applying for it shall give bond as required by the Rules of the Supreme Court.

(2) In civil litigation under any legal theory, the appeal bond to be furnished during the pendency of all appeals or discretionary reviews by any appellate courts in order to stay the execution of any judgment granting legal, equitable, or other relief during the entire course of appellate review shall be set in accordance with applicable laws or court rules, except that the total appeal bond or other forms of security that are required of an appellant shall be in the amount of the judgment, but not to exceed fifty percent (50%) of the net worth of the appellant, and in no event shall the appeal bond exceed Thirty-five Million Dollars ($35,000,000.00).

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (2) of this section, if an appellee proves by a preponderance of the evidence that an appellant is dissipating assets outside the ordinary course of business to avoid payment of a judgment, a court may enter orders that:

(a) Are necessary to protect the appellee; and

(b) Require the appellant to post a bond in an amount up to the total amount of the judgment.

(4) In this section:

(a) "Civil litigation" includes, without limitation, cases involving individual, aggregated, class action, or otherwise joined claims.

(b) "Legal, equitable, or other relief" means all forms of relief including, without limitation, compensatory, special, punitive, exemplary or other damages, injunctive relief, or any other form of relief.

(c) "Dissipation of assets" shall not include expenditures, including payments to the owners of a business, of a kind that the appellant made in the regular course of business prior to entry of the judgment being appealed.

(5) The provisions of this section shall apply to all judgments entered on or after the effective date of this act, regardless of the date the civil litigation was filed.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.