LIMITING MEDICAL MALPRACTICE claims, curbing the court's role in Claremont-type cases, changing the standard for deciding child custody issues, and requiring legislative review of settlement decisions made by state agencies are among the hundreds of bills that have been introduced by legislators so far.

Recurring issues being considered this session include efforts to establish a judicial selection commission, revive the court rule-making constitutional amendment (CACR 5), and deunify the Bar Association.

The NHBA Board of Governors and the NHBA Legislation Committee have been meeting regularly to sift through the mountain of new bills, picking carefully the handful of bills upon which the Association will take a position. The Legislation Committee, with the assistance of legislative representative John MacIntosh, considers whether proposed bills are of interest to the membership and whether taking a position will meet the standard set for the unified bar in the Chapman decision (see accompanying excerpts). The committee's recommendations are then reviewed by the Board of Governors, which must vote to approve any advocacy positions. The Board of Governors was scheduled to meet on legislative positions on Feb. 13 - shortly after this issue of Bar News went to press.

Although the NHBA likely won't take a position on them, certain bills are garnering significant public attention, such as HB 290 and SB 119, which would, respectively, either institutionalize or eliminate the "loss of opportunity" doctrine in medical malpractice cases established by the Supreme Court's Lord v. Lovett ruling. There is also a constitutional amendment, CACR 2, which would modify the "standard for judicial review of all legislative determinations" regarding state education funding. House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 14 would declare it "wrongful for the judiciary" to "define an adequate education or the cost of an adequate education" - in effect reversing or narrowing the role the courts would play in further reviewing its Claremont decisions.

Also, several southern NH legislators are sponsoring a bill to appropriate approximately $315,000 per year to establish a Nashua office for NH Legal Assistance.

As in past years, a number of bills call for studies or immediate changes in the structure or processes of the judicial system, including:

HB 59 - Creates certification standards for court reporting that would affect the qualifications for court monitors;

HB 113 - Creates a "loser pays" feature in tort actions; HB 121 - Establishes grounds for modifying child-custody arrangements to allow modifications based on the best interests of the child; and allowing modification based on a change in circumstances that would be "detrimental to the child";

HB 122 - "An act relative to an informed jury" - allows jury "nullification" instructions in criminal cases;

HB 130 - Establishes a judicial nomination commission whose list of recommended nominees would be given "high priority" consideration by the governor;

HB 134 - Proposes that appointment of marital masters be made by the governor and council, based on recommendations from the Supreme Court;

HB 167 - Grants exclusive jurisdiction over judicial discipline to the legislatively appointed Judicial Conduct Commission;

HB 175 - Prohibits membership in any bar association as a condition for practicing law or for appointment to certain positions;

HB 183 - Clarifies distribution from a decedent's estate to a minor according to RSA 463-a, the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act;

HB 194 - Redirects appeals of landlord/tenant cases from the Supreme Court to the superior court and limits further appeals to issues of law;

HB 195 - Prohibits part-time district court judges from practicing law in any district court;

HB 248 - Requires the disclosure of information to victims in juvenile delinquency cases;

HB 287 - Establishes a professional malpractice claims study commission brought under RSA 519-a;

HB 308 - Adopts a Uniform Mediation Act;

HB 338 - Requires the suspension of attorneys who "do not abide by a client's decision whether to accept an offer of settlement";

HB 380 - Requires legislative approval for any settlement of a court claim against the state requiring payments or services;

HB 422 - Establishes a random method for selecting replacement justices for Supreme Court justices disqualified to hear cases;

HB 445 - Creates a "rebuttable presumption" against joint custody in cases where there is a domestic violence finding, and barring denial of relief based on a lapse of time between an act of domestic violence and the filing of a petition for a protective order;

HB 523 - Reduces, through attrition, the number of superior court justices from 28 to 25.

HB 564 - Permits access to certain confidential information (such as juvenile court records) for the judicial conduct commission in the conduct of its proceedings;

HB 620 - Provides a right to counsel for indigent parents in cases involving guardianships of minors;

HB 643 - Authorizes county-by-county expansion of the Family Division statewide, with added annual expenditures rising to $384,761 once statewide expansion is complete in 2007. Another bill, HB 656, would repeal the Family Division pilot project;

HB 671 - Establishes a contributory defined benefit pension plan for judges;

HB 749 - States that notwithstanding the statute of limitations on criminal offenses, within one year of discovery of a DNA match between a defendant and DNA identified as criminal evidence (defined in RSA 651-C), prosecution of a defendant may commence.

Future issues of Bar News will report on bills introduced in the Senate, legislation governing areas such as probate law and privacy, and the Board of Governors' decisions on advocacy positions on specific bills or issues.

Visit Publications/Legislative Information for an update on legislation being tracked by the Bar's Legislation Committee, and for the Board of Governors' positions on bills.

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