3.0.0 1836 2023-01-15T08:48:04Z 2023-01-15T08:48:04Z Senate S S 2003-11-06 108 ssju00 Judiciary Committee Senate Standing Referred to 2003-11-07T01:04:10Z Legal Expense Equity Act of 2004 108 4430 HR 2004-06-28 Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property. Identical bill CRS 2003-11-06 ssju00 Judiciary Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. IntroReferral 2003-11-06 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress G000359 Sen. Graham, Lindsey [R-SC] Lindsey Graham R SC N C001056 Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX] John Cornyn R TX 2003-11-06 True G000386 Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA] Charles Grassley R IA E. 2003-11-06 True Law Civil actions and liability Civil procedure Damages District courts Evidence (Law) Legal fees Law 00 2003-11-06 Introduced in Senate 2004-06-08T14:19:12Z

Legal Expense Equity Act of 2003 - Amends the Federal judicial code to authorize parties in civil diversity litigation to serve written settlement offers on an adverse party at any time not less than 10 days before trial.

Authorizes the court, at any time before judgment is entered, to exempt from settlement any claim that presents a novel and important question of law or fact that substantially affects nonparties. Voids all settlement offers made by the parties with respect to such exempted claims.

Authorizes an offeror whose proposed settlement was declined by an offeree to file a petition with the court seeking payment by the offeree of costs and fees, including attorney's fees, from the date of the last settlement offer by either party if the ultimate judgment or order is not more favorable to the offeree than the proposed settlement. Requires the court to order payment by the offeree in such circumstances unless requiring payment would be manifestly unjust.

Limits attorney's fees ordered under this Act to: (1) the actual attorney's fees incurred by the offeree in connection with the claim; or (2) if no such cost was incurred due to a contingency fee agreement, a reasonable cost that would have been incurred by the offeree absent a contingency fee agreement.

States that this Act does not apply to claims seeking equitable remedies.

]]> Legal Expense Equity Act of 2003 Display Title Legal Expense Equity Act of 2003 Official Title as Introduced A bill to amend chapter 85 of title 28, United States Code, to provide for greater fairness in legal fees payable in civil diversity litigation after an offer of settlement. Introduced in Senate IS Short Titles as Introduced Legal Expense Equity Act of 2003 Introduced in Senate 2003-11-06T05:00:00Z 2003-11-06 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.