Legislation	Secretary of Senate	Members	Committees	Meetings	Home	House

SB 487 - Supersedeas Bonds - limit for puni- tive damages portion, civil judg.

Kemp, Rene' D (3rd)	Meyer von Bremen, Michael S. (12th)	Madden, Eddie M (47th)

Status Summary	SC:	Judy	HC:		FR:	02/23/00	LA:	03/01/00	S - Read 2nd Time

First Reader Summary

A bill to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 5-6-46 of the O.C.G.A., relating to supersedeas, bonds, and the surety's liability, so as to provide for a limitation on the supersedeas bond for the punitive damages portion of a civil judgment; to provide for rescission of such limitation or waiver; to provide for waiving the filing of a supersedeas bond as to an award for punitive damages; to amend Code Section 9-12-134 of the O.C.G.A., relating to appeal or stay of foreign judgment, so as to clarify that a foreign judgment shall be stayed because an appeal is pending or will be taken or the time for filing an appeal has not expired; to provide that a foreign judgment shall be stayed until appeals are concluded or the time for taking an appeal has expired; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

SB 487 00                                          LC 10 3139 
 
      SENATE BILL 487 
 
      By:  Senators Kemp of the 3rd, Meyer von Bremen of the 
           12th and Madden of the 47th 
 
                        A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 
                               AN ACT 
 
 
  1- 1  To amend Code Section 5-6-46 of the Official Code of Georgia 
  1- 2  Annotated, relating to supersedeas, bonds, and the surety's 
  1- 3  liability, so as to provide for a limitation on the 
  1- 4  supersedeas bond for the punitive damages portion of a civil 
  1- 5  judgment; to provide for rescission of such limitation or 
  1- 6  waiver; to provide for waiving the filing of a supersedeas 
  1- 7  bond as to an award for punitive damages; to amend Code 
  1- 8  Section 9-12-134 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, 
  1- 9  relating to appeal or stay of foreign judgment, so as to 
  1-10  clarify that a foreign judgment shall be stayed because an 
  1-11  appeal is pending or will be taken or the time for filing an 
  1-12  appeal has not expired; to provide that a foreign judgment 
  1-13  shall be stayed until appeals are concluded or the time for 
  1-14  taking an appeal has expired; to provide that this Act's 
  1-15  amendment of Code Section 5-6-46 applies to security for 
  1-16  satisfaction of a foreign judgment; to provide for an 
  1-17  effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other 
  1-18  purposes. 
 
  1-19       BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: 
 
  1-20                           SECTION 1. 
 
  1-21  Code Section 5-6-46 of the Official Code of Georgia 
  1-22  Annotated, relating to supersedeas, bonds, and the surety's 
  1-23  liability, is amended by inserting new subsections to be 
  1-24  designated subsections (e), (f), and (g) to read as follows: 
 
  1-25    "(e) If the appellee in a civil action obtains a judgment 
  1-26    for punitive damages and the appellant seeks a stay of 
  1-27    enforcement of the judgment in order to obtain review by 
  1-28    an appellate court, the supersedeas bond for the punitive 
  1-29    damages portion of the judgment shall not exceed $25 
  1-30    million. 
 
  1-31    (f) If after notice and hearing the court finds that the 
  1-32    appellee has proven by a preponderance of the evidence 
  1-33    that a party bringing an appeal, for whom the supersedeas 
  1-34    bond requirement has been limited pursuant to subsection 
 
 
 
                                 -1- 
 
 
 
  2- 1    (e) of this Code section, is purposefully secreting its 
  2- 2    assets, or diverting assets outside the jurisdiction of 
  2- 3    the United States courts, the limitation granted pursuant 
  2- 4    to subsection (e) of this Code section shall be rescinded 
  2- 5    and the bond requirement shall be reinstated for the full 
  2- 6    amount of the judgment. 
 
  2- 7    (g) A court may otherwise waive the filing of a 
  2- 8    supersedeas bond as to punitive damages in a civil action 
  2- 9    for good cause shown." 
 
  2-10                           SECTION 2. 
 
  2-11  Code Section 9-12-134 of the Official Code of Georgia 
  2-12  Annotated, relating to appeal or stay of foreign judgment, 
  2-13  is amended by striking subsection (b) in its entirety and 
  2-14  inserting in lieu thereof the following: 
 
  2-15    "(b) If the judgment debtor shows the court any ground on 
  2-16    which enforcement of a judgment of the court of this state 
  2-17    would be stayed, including the ground that an appeal from 
  2-18    the foreign judgment is pending or will be taken or that 
  2-19    the time for taking such an appeal has not yet expired, 
  2-20    the court shall stay enforcement of the foreign judgment 
  2-21    for an appropriate period until all available appeals are 
  2-22    concluded or the time for taking all appeals has expired 
  2-23    and require the same security for satisfaction of the 
  2-24    judgment that is required in this state, subject to the 
  2-25    provisions of subsections (e) through (g) of Code Section 
  2-26    5-6-46." 
 
  2-27                           SECTION 3. 
 
  2-28  This Act shall become effective upon its approval by the 
  2-29  Governor or upon its becoming law without such approval. 
 
  2-30                           SECTION 4. 
 
  2-31  All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are 
  2-32  repealed. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                 -2-