Bill Text: TX SB1567 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: Relating to mandatory disclosure of third-party litigation financing agreements.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-14 - Referred to State Affairs [SB1567 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-SB1567-Introduced.html
  86R7092 TSR-F
 
  By: Fallon S.B. No. 1567
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to mandatory disclosure of third-party litigation
  financing agreements.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 22, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Section 22.021 to read as follows:
         Sec. 22.021.  DISCLOSURE OF THIRD-PARTY LITIGATION
  FINANCING. (a) In this section:
               (1)  "Financing" means the provision of monetary or
  in-kind support to a person or group of persons who have or will
  file or prosecute a civil action, including a payment to an attorney
  who represents the person or group, a payment to a fact or expert
  witness, a payment of the costs of the civil action, or the
  provision of funds or credit to be used in the future to support the
  civil action. The term includes the provision of monetary or
  in-kind support, regardless of whether the support is called a
  loan, an advance, a purchase, or another term.
               (2)  "Third-party litigation financing" means the
  provision of financing with repayment being conditioned on and
  sourced from the person's or group's proceeds from the civil action,
  regardless of whether the proceeds are obtained through collection
  of a judgment, payment of a settlement, or otherwise. The term does
  not include:
                     (A)  an extension of credit to any attorney or law
  firm when the obligation of the attorney or law firm to repay the
  loan is required by the loan agreement and is not contingent on the
  outcome of a specified civil action or portfolio of civil actions;
  or
                     (B)  a contingent fee arrangement between an
  attorney or law firm and a client.
         (b)  The supreme court shall adopt rules to provide for the
  mandatory disclosure of third-party litigation financing
  agreements to the parties in a civil action in connection with which
  third-party litigation financing is provided.
         SECTION 2.  The Supreme Court of Texas shall adopt rules
  under Section 22.021, Government Code, as added by this Act, not
  later than December 31, 2019. The rules apply only to a civil
  action commenced on or after the effective date of the rules.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
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