[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1337 Introduced in Senate (IS)]


104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1337

    To amend the Legal Services Corporation Act to limit frivolous 
                   lawsuits, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             October 19 (legislative day, October 18), 1995

   Mr. Brown introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
         referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Legal Services Corporation Act to limit frivolous 
                   lawsuits, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. LIMITATION OF FRIVOLOUS LAWSUITS.

    Section 1006 of the Legal Services Corporation Act (42 U.S.C. 
2996e) is amended by striking subsection (f) and inserting the 
following:
    ``(f)(1) If any court of appropriate jurisdiction finds that--
            ``(A) a recipient, in providing legal assistance to an 
        eligible client under this title, commenced an action, or filed 
        a pleading, written motion, or other document, for any improper 
        purpose, such as to harass or to cause unnecessary delay or 
        needless increase in the cost of litigation; or
            ``(B) that the action of the eligible client was--
                    ``(i) frivolous or without legal foundation; and
                    ``(ii) not warranted by existing law (as of the 
                date on which the action was commenced) or by a 
                nonfrivolous argument for the extension, modification, 
                or reversal of existing law or the establishment of new 
                law;
the court may enter an order awarding reasonable costs and legal fees 
incurred by an opposing party in defending the action or responding to 
the pleading, motion, or document, as the case may be.
    ``(2) Any such costs and fees shall be directly paid by the 
Corporation.''.
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