BILL NUMBER: AB 456	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 17, 2001

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 amended, John Campbell.  Class actions:  attorney's
fees.
   Existing law provides for class actions, as specified  , as
well as actions under the common fund doctrine developed by the
courts  .  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  or an action based on the common
fund doctrine 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  and actions based on the common
fund doctrine  are the true beneficiaries of a class action suit
 or an action based on the common fund doctrine  , 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  and actions based on the common
fund doctrine, as described in Vincent v. Hughes Air West, Inc. (9th
Cir. 1977) 557 F.2d 759,  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.