BILL NUMBER: AB 456	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member John Campbell

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2001

   An act to add Section 1033.6 to the Code of Civil Procedure,
relating to attorney's fees.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 456, as introduced, J. Campbell.  Class actions:  attorney's
fees.
   Existing law provides for class actions, as specified.  Existing
law also provides for the award of attorney's fees to a prevailing
plaintiff, as specified.
   This bill would limit attorney's fees to attorneys for prevailing
plaintiffs in a class action against the state, any of its
subdivisions, or a nonprofit organization or corporation, as
specified.
   Vote:  majority.  Appropriation:  no.  Fiscal committee:  no.
State-mandated local program:  no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that
class members in class actions are the true beneficiaries of a class
action suit, and receive at least 85 percent or more of the judgment,
arbitration award, or settlement amount, and in extremely high-risk
suits, no less than 85 percent.
  SEC. 2.  Section 1033.6 is added to the Code of Civil Procedure, to
read:
   1033.6.  In all class actions brought against the state or any of
its subdivisions, or against any organization or corporation
classified as nonprofit pursuant to the Revenue and Taxation Code,
the amount of attorney's fees awarded or assigned to the prevailing
plaintiff attorneys shall be limited, as follows:
   (a) Those attorney's fees may not exceed one thousand dollars
($1,000) per hour, or 15 percent of the judgment, arbitration award,
or settlement amount, whichever is less.
   (b) In deciding an appropriate amount, the judge, arbitrator, or
agreeing parties shall examine the attorney's billable hours to
discern whether they are reasonable and necessary, and review any
prior settlement offers that may have been declined.  If in the judge'
s or arbitrator's opinion, the billable hours are not reasonable or
necessary, or if a reasonable settlement offer was declined, the fee
limit is a maximum of five hundred dollars ($500) per hour or 7.5
percent of the judgment, arbitration award, or settlement, whichever
is less.