Awaiting Assent Legal Damages Balance Act

The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:

1 - Short Title and Enactment
(1) This Act may be cited as the 'Legal Damages Balance Act’
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(a) All changes made as a result of this amendment enter effect for all cases filed after the day this amendment is signed, regardless of when the action(s) or alleged action(s) in controversy occurred.
(3) This Act has been authored by: AlexanderLove and Kaiserin_ as part of Dragon Law Firm, with contributions from Dartanman.
(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by:

2 - Reasons
(1) To fine-tune legal damages to make max legal damages more reasonable and remove pointless forms of damage.
(2) Ensure the legal profession is paid a livable wage for their immense amount of reading, writing, and analysis all while adhering to strict deadlines.

3 - Amendments
The Legal Damages Act is amended as follows:

“3 - Applicability
(1) These definitions and rules for damages apply to all non-criminal civil legal matters. Section 9, Legal Fees, shall apply to all legal matters.
(2) Awards are to be given for each type of damage if they are both asked for and meet the definitional criteria.

4 - Compensatory Damages
(1) Definition:
(a) "Compensatory damages" are the damages awarded to a person as compensation; security or protection against a loss or other financial burden; or the restoration of something lost or stolen to its proper owner.
(2) Award:
(a) Compensatory damages will not be awarded without proof of pecuniary loss including compensation for harm to property, harm to earning capacity, and the creation of liabilities; unless they are special damage.
(b) Is limited to either the authorized statute’s limit or actual amount of damages, whichever is lower.
(3) Diminution of Award:
(a) Duty to Mitigate - A party’s obligation to make reasonable efforts to limit the harm they suffer from another party’s actions. In order to prove this damage, a party must prove that the other side did not exhaust measures to protect the other side’s interest. However, this defense does not bar or diminish a plaintiff’s claim if a defendant breached a contract that they had been conforming to; nor does a party must a party exhaust all measures to prove that they did attempt to mitigate.
(b) Contributory Negligence - Conduct on the part of the plaintiff which falls below the standard to which he should conform for their own protection, and which is a legally contributing cause co-operating with the negligence of the defendant in bringing about the plaintiff's harm. In order to prove this defense, a defendant must prove that the percentage of a plaintiff’s overall conduct, no greater than 50%, caused the plaintiff’s harm. Whatever percentage of liability proven for contributory negligence by the defendant shall be deducted from the plaintiff’s compensatory damages award should the plaintiff ultimately prevail in their action.

5 - Punitive Damages
(1) Definition:
(a) “Punitive damages” are damages awarded against a person to punish them for their outrageous conduct and to deter them and others like them from similar conduct in the future, as a counter claim if a party believes the case to be frivolous and outrageous, or as authorized by law. These damages are distinct from 4 - Compensatory Damage as there does not need to be any actual loss to be compensated. A penalty clause in a contract would fall under this definition as well.
(2) Award:
(a) Punitive damages will not be awarded unless they are either authorized by statute or unless the conduct of the other party in causing the party’s harm is outrageous.
(b) In the event that punitive damages are is being argued because an authorized statute grants it, the award shall be limited by the amount granted by law.
(3) Diminution of award:
(a) In assessing a punitive damage award, the judicial officer magistrate/judge/justice can properly consider the character of the defendant's act, the nature and extent of the harm to the plaintiff that the defendant caused or intended to cause and the wealth of the defendant.
(b) An appeal A defense against punitive damages can be made to assess whether or not conduct was “outrageous”.

6 - Nominal Damages
(1) Definition:
(a) “Nominal damages” are a trivial sum of money awarded to a party who has established a cause of action but has not established that they are entitled to any other damages listed in this act.
(2) Award:
(a) Is capped at $4,000 $7,500.
(3) Diminution of award:
(a) There shall be no diminution of award or defenses to nominal damages.

7 - Consequential Damages
(1) Definition:
(a) “Consequential Damages” An award that a party can collect against an opposing party for damages that are otherwise incalculable. Below is a non-exhaustive list of Consequential Damages:
(I) Emotional Damages - Situations in which a person suffers psychological harm due to an entity's negligent or intentional actions. Emotional damages may be proven by witness testimony, reasonable person tests, or any other mechanism the presiding Judge considers persuasive.
(I) Humiliation - Situations in which a person has been disgraced, belittled or made to look foolish. Humiliation damages may be proven by witness testimony and reasonable person tests, or any other mechanism the presiding Judge judicial officer considers persuasive.
(II) The Worsening of any Existing Conditions - Situations in which a damage is caused by a party that caused harm to another party that were unforeseen or unrelated to the original harm.
(III) The Loss of Enjoyment in Redmont: - Situations in which an injured party loses, or has diminished, their ability to engage in certain activities in the way that the injured party did before the harm. Loss of enjoyment in Redmont damages may be proven by witness testimony and reasonable person tests, or any other mechanism the presiding Judge judicial officer considers persuasive.
(2) Award:
(a) Consequential damages can be argued in conjunction with 4 - Compensatory Damages to negate diminutives of an award for compensatory damage.
(b) Consequential damages shall have no cap if argued in conjunction with 5 - Punitive damages in cases involving “outrageous” conduct caused by the offending party.
(c) The award shall otherwise be capped at $50,000 dollars per individual consequential damage claim.
(b) No plaintiff shall be awarded more than $150,000 in total consequential damages in a single case.
(3) Diminution of award:
(a) In assessing a consequential damage award, the judicial officer magistrate/judge/justice must review the available evidence and deny awards that do not have sufficient proof according to the standard of a balance of probabilities.
(b) An appeal against consequential damages can be made to assess whether or not conduct was “outrageous”.

8 - Liquidated Damages
(1) Definition:
(a) “Liquidated Damages” is an award whose amount the parties designate during the formation of a contract for the injured party to collect as compensation upon a specific breach. It is an estimate of otherwise intangible or hard-to-define losses to one of the parties.
(2) Award:
(a) These damages are paid out in the case of a breach of contract, and are pre-estimated and spelled out in advance when the contract is signed.
(b) Liquidated damages are meant as a fair representation of losses in situations where actual damages are difficult to ascertain and therefore do not count as 4 - Compensatory Damages nor 5 - Punitive Damages.
(3) Diminution of award:
(a) The courts will require that the parties involved make the most reasonable assessment possible for the damages clause at the time the contract is signed.
(b) In order to collect Liquidated Damages, both sides must agree to summary judgment. In the event that one party disagrees to summary judgment of the facts, that party shall be found in breach of their contract through misrepresentation and potentially liable for 4 - Compensatory Damages or 5 - Punitive Damages.

9 - Legal Fees
(1) Definition:
(a) Legal fees are most commonly used to describe the fees paid to the attorney for his/her time and effort.
(2) Award:
(a) Can be awarded either directly to the lawyer or to the client. Legal fees are awarded directly to the legal representative of the party that prevails in a given case, paid by the losing party in the case. Legal fees must be awarded unless excepted by this law, and do not necessitate inclusion in a prayer for relief or a countersuit to be awarded.
(i) Legal representatives may choose not to be awarded legal fees upon success in a case, but this must be communicated to the court in a case filing, response, or plea.
(b) Is dependent on the payment structure used within a retainer. A lawyer must declare their legal fees in their retainer and what percentage, if any, is to be kept by their client. Legal fees shall be awarded to pro se litigants where applicable, who shall be counted as their own legal representative for the purposes of this section.
(c) Is capped at $5,000 or 30% of the overall case’s value, whichever is higher. Legal fees shall be awarded to the legal representative of the prevailing party in a case at a rate of the greater of $6,000 Redmont dollars or 30% of the total value of the case. Cases that reach summary judgment or default judgment before any witnesses are examined shall have an award of the greater of $5,000 or 25% of the total value of the case.
(i) In civil cases, the value of a case shall be assessed as either the award actually granted if the plaintiff prevails, or the award requested by the plaintiff if the defendant prevails.
(d) Legal fees may still be awarded even if a party loses the case overall, such as if the non-prevailing party’s lawyer managed to successfully dismiss a portion of the lawsuit or lowered damages. Legal fees are capped at $4,000 per day a case is in court from its filing to the time the defense makes its closing remarks, or if the defense fails to make closing remarks, the time the Court enters recess for verdict.
(e) In the event that the plaintiff initiates legal proceedings and such proceedings are dismissed by the court or result in a judgment in favor of the defendant, the prevailing party's legal representative[s] shall be entitled to recover reasonable legal fees from the plaintiff, capped at equal to $4,000 or 20% of the case's value, whichever is higher.
(i) In cases that are dismissed sua sponte and/or before the defendant is summoned, legal fees shall not be awarded.
(f) Should the Commonwealth prosecute a citizen and subsequently fail to prevail in the legal proceedings, the prevailing citizen's legal counsel shall be entitled to recover reasonable legal fees from the Commonwealth, capped at equal to $5,000 or 20% of the case's value the fines requested by the prosecution, whichever is higher.
(g) Any caps, limits, or other restrictions on legal fees need not apply in plea bargains and legal settlements, with the concurrence of both parties making the settlement. The judicial officer must not further diminish the agreed legal fee in the case of a settlement or plea bargain.
(3) Diminution of award:
(a) Lawyers are required to disclose their fee structure along with their proof of representation to the court. If they are representing a client on a contingency basis, wherein their fees are contingent upon the outcome of the case, they are prohibited from requesting additional legal fees.
(b) In assessing a legal fee award, the Judicial Officer will determine the amount that a lawyer receives based on factors such as presentation of case, speediness in response time, ability to breakdown complex legal issues, overall demeanor, and how well they served their client.”