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SPONSOR: |
Lundstrom |
DATE TYPED: |
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HB |
290 |
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SHORT TITLE: |
Civil Liability for Natural Gas Workers |
SB |
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ANALYST: |
Maloy |
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APPROPRIATION
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Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
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FY03 |
FY04 |
FY03 |
FY04 |
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NFI |
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Responses Received From
Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources
Department
Office of the Attorney General
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 290 provides that a licensed person engaged in manufacture, assembly, repair, sale or installation of liquid petroleum (LP) gas equipment will be liable for injuries caused by the manufacture, assembly, sale or installing of LP gas equipment by a non-licensed person if the licensed person had written notice or actual knowledge of the performance of work by the unlicensed person, and failed to inspect the equipment within thirty (30) days after receipt of such notice or knowledge.
The liability standard for the
licensed person is gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.
HB290 imposes
liability on any person who is licensed to deal with LP gas equipment
and who receives notice that such equipment has been manufactured, sold,
installed or serviced by an unlicensed person.
Liability is not expressly limited to licensed persons who
manufactured, sold, installed or serviced the particular equipment that caused
the injury.
If the intent is to exempt a licensed person from common
law liability if the licensed person is simply negligence, or if there existed
a defect in the product at the time of manufacture or sale that caused the
injury, Subsection B does not achieve that result.
Subsection C
provides that the bill is not intended to limit liability in instances of gross
negligence or willful or wanton acts of the licensed person. But, what about simple negligence, or a
defect in a product? Reading subsections
B and C together arguably gives rise to two possible interpretations. They can be interpreted to afford an exemption
of liability in such situations or to not to afford such an exemption.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
HB 290 contains no appropriation and has no
direct effect on revenue or expenditures of the state. If may, however, have an indirect impact on
such offices as the courts due to the suits this legislation may give rise
to. This indirect impact will not likely
be significant, since there should not be a large number of these suits.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
As noted above under Significant Issues, the
bill is ambiguous regarding whether there must be some relationship or tie
between the licensed person and the unlicensed person. Can a licensed person be held liable for the
work of just any unlicensed person?
Subsection A [page 2, lines 1 and 2] contains
the words "written or actual knowledge." Compare Subsection B [page 2, lines 7 and 8],
which say "written notice or actual knowledge." In the interest of clarity and consistency,
the bill should be amended to say "written notice or actual
knowledge" in both places.
Subsection
B of HB 290 is repetitive and can be struck.
It exempts a licensed person who does not have notice of work performed
by an unlicensed person from the "liability of Subsection A of this
section." Subsection A
unambiguously imposes liability only
on a licensed person who has such notice.
SJM/njw:yr