Bill > S1931

Introduced Session

This bill would limit the amount of the appeal bond in civil actions to the total value of the monetary judgment or $50 million, whichever is less. Under current law and the Rules of Court, a party who appeals a judgment ordering the payment of a monetary amount to another party may appeal that judgment and receive a temporary stay of the obligation to pay the monies, conditioned on posting an appeal bond. The appeal bond, also known as a supersedeas bond, is conditioned for the satisfaction of the judgment in full, together with interest and trial costs. This bill would limit the total amount of the appeal bond or other forms of security required of all appellants collectively in a civil action to $50,000,000, in addition to trial costs. The bill also provides that its provisions could not be construed to eliminate the discretion of the court, after notice and hearing and for good cause shown, to reduce the appeal bond to a lower amount. Additionally, the bill provides that if an appellee proves by a preponderance of the evidence that an appellant is concealing its assets, or is dissipating or diverting assets outside the ordinary course of business to avoid payment of a judgment, a court could enter orders that: (1) are necessary to protect the appellee; and (2) require the appellant to post a supersedeas bond in an amount up to the total amount of the judgment. The bill would take effective immediately and apply to all judgments entered on or after its effective date, regardless of the date the action was filed.

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Steven Oroho (R)*,  Ronald Rice (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee (on 03/10/2016)