SENATE FILE _____

BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY BILL BY CHAIRPERSON FRAISE)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to civil law and practice including certain insurance and liability provisions and privacy rights.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  NEW SECTION.  515.134A  Policy information —— duty to provide.
   1.  Upon the written request of a claimant or a claimant’s representative, an insurer that is providing or may provide liability insurance coverage of the claimant’s claim or a portion of that claim under a policy of insurance, shall, within thirty days, provide a written statement, made by an authorized person, stating the limits of any liability insurance coverage. The statement shall include the limits of liability insurance coverage with respect to each policy of insurance issued by that insurer, including excess or umbrella insurance, under which such coverage is being provided or may be provided.
   2.  Information provided to a claimant or a claimant’s representative pursuant to this section shall be amended within fourteen days of the discovery that the information provided is incorrect.
    Sec. 2.  Section 516A.2, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   516A.2  Construction —— minimum coverage —— stacking
 
step-down provisions.
   1.
  a.  Except with respect to a policy containing both underinsured motor vehicle coverage and uninsured or hit-and-run motor vehicle coverage, nothing
 
Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed as requiring forms of coverage provided pursuant hereto
 
to this chapter, whether alone or in combination with similar coverage afforded under other automobile liability or motor vehicle liability policies, to afford limits in excess of those that would be afforded had the insured thereunder been involved in an accident with a motorist who was insured under a policy of liability insurance with the minimum limits for bodily injury or death prescribed in subsection 11 of section 321A.1, subsection 11. Such forms of coverage may include terms, exclusions, limitations, conditions, and offsets which are designed to avoid duplication of insurance or other benefits
 
duplicate payment of damages.
   b.  To the extent that Hernandez v. Farmers Insurance Company, 460 N.W.2d 842 (Iowa 1990), provided for interpolicy stacking of uninsured or underinsured coverages in contravention of specific contract or policy language, the general assembly declares such decision abrogated and declares that the enforcement of the antistacking provisions contained in a motor vehicle insurance policy does not frustrate the protection given to an insured under section 516A.1.
   2.  Pursuant to chapter 17A, the commissioner of insurance shall, by January 1, 1992, adopt rules to assure the availability, within the state, of motor vehicle insurance policies, riders, endorsements, or other similar forms of coverage, the terms of which shall provide for the stacking of uninsured and underinsured coverages with any similar coverage which may be available to an insured.
   3.  It is the intent of the general assembly that when more than one motor vehicle insurance policy is purchased by or on behalf of an injured insured and which provides uninsured, underinsured, or hit-and-run motor vehicle coverage to an insured injured in an accident, the injured insured is entitled to recover up to an amount equal to the highest single limit for uninsured, underinsured, or hit-and-run motor vehicle coverage under any one of the above described motor vehicle insurance policies insuring the injured person which amount shall be paid by the insurers according to any priority of coverage provisions contained in the policies insuring the injured person.
   4.  A policy to which this chapter applies shall not include exclusions or step-down provisions that eliminate or reduce uninsured or underinsured coverage for a person who would otherwise be covered under the policy for the reason that the person is injured by, or while occupying a vehicle being operated by, another person insured under the policy.
    Sec. 3.  NEW SECTION.  602.1212A  Judges for medical malpractice cases.
   1.  The supreme court shall designate at least one district judge in each judicial district in the state who shall be subject to assignment by the chief justice to preside as necessary in this state in a medical malpractice action. Designations shall be made on the basis of qualifications and experience, and shall be for the purpose of developing a pool of district judges who will have the knowledge and experience needed to preside in medical malpractice actions.
   2.  Only the district judge assigned by the chief justice shall preside in the particular medical malpractice action.
   3.  For purposes of this section, “medical malpractice action” means an action founded on injuries to a person or wrongful death against any physician and surgeon, osteopathic physician and surgeon, dentist, podiatric physician, optometrist, pharmacist, chiropractor, physician assistant, or nurse, licensed under chapter 147, or a hospital licensed under chapter 135B, arising out of patient care.
    Sec. 4.  NEW SECTION.  624.39  Continuance —— medical malpractice actions.
   A motion for a continuance in a medical malpractice action, as defined in section 602.1212A, shall be granted only upon consent of the parties and only in extraordinary circumstances.
    Sec. 5.  Section 633.3, subsection 30, Code Supplement 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   30.  Personal representative —— includes executor and administrator.

However, for purposes of obtaining a decedent’s medical records or asserting a decedent’s rights under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-191, the personal representative is the first of the following persons who exist when the request for medical records or assertion of rights is made:
   a.  The executor or administrator.
   b.  The decedent’s spouse.
   c.  The decedent’s adult child.

   d.  The decedent’s adult sibling.
    Sec. 6.  Section 668.11, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   668.11  Disclosure of expert witnesses in liability cases involving licensed professionals.
   1.  A party in a professional liability case brought against a licensed professional pursuant to this chapter who intends to call an expert witness of their own selection, shall certify to the court and all other parties the expert’s name, qualifications, and the purpose for calling the expert, and the element of the cause of action about which the expert will testify within the following time period:
   a.  The plaintiff within one hundred eighty days of the defendant’s answer unless the court for good cause not ex parte extends the time of disclosure.
   b.  The defendant within ninety days of plaintiff’s certification.
   2.  If a party fails to disclose an expert pursuant to subsection 1 or does not make the
 
an expert available for discovery, the expert shall be prohibited from testifying in the action unless leave for the expert’s testimony is given by the court for good cause shown.
   3.  A party shall disclose at least one but not more than two experts for each element of the cause of action about which an expert or experts will be called to testify.
   3.
  4.  This section does not apply to court appointed experts or to rebuttal experts called with the approval of the court.
EXPLANATION
   LIABILITY INSURANCE POLICY INFORMATION. This bill requires insurers to provide certain information about insurance policies that are providing or may provide liability insurance coverage to a claimant, upon the request of the claimant or the claimant’s representative, and to update the information provided upon the discovery that it is not correct.
   AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COVERAGE —— LIABILITY. Code section 516A.2(1) relating to uninsured and underinsured and hit-and-run motor vehicle coverage, is amended to provide that such coverage may include provisions that are designed to avoid duplicate payment of damages. Code section 516A.2 is amended to prohibit exclusions or step-down provisions in motor vehicle insurance policies that eliminate or reduce uninsured or underinsured and hit-and-run coverage for a person who would otherwise be covered under the policy because the person is injured by, or while in a vehicle being operated by, another person insured under the policy.
   MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ACTIONS —— JUDGES —— MOTION FOR CONTINUANCE. The bill provides that the supreme court shall designate at least one district judge in each judicial district in the state who shall be subject to assignment by the chief justice to preside as necessary in a medical malpractice action. Designations shall be made on the basis of qualifications and experience, and shall be for the purpose of developing a pool of district judges who will have the knowledge and experience needed to preside in medical malpractice actions. Only the district judge assigned shall preside in the particular medical malpractice action.
   The bill provides that a motion for a continuance in a medical malpractice action shall be granted only upon consent of the parties and only in extraordinary circumstances.
   For purposes of the bill, “medical malpractice action” means an action founded on injuries to a person or wrongful death against any physician and surgeon, osteopathic physician and surgeon, dentist, podiatric physician, optometrist, pharmacist, chiropractor, physician assistant, or nurse, licensed under Code chapter 147, or a hospital licensed under Code chapter 135B, arising out of patient care.
   PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE —— HIPPA. The bill expands the definition of personal representative under the probate code for purposes of obtaining a decedent’s medical records or asserting a decedent’s rights under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-191 (HIPPA) and designates the personal representative under such circumstances to be the first of the following persons who exist when the request for medical records or assertion of rights is made: the executor or administrator; the decedent’s spouse; the decedent’s adult child; or the decedent’s adult sibling.
   DISCLOSURE OF EXPERT WITNESSES —— LIABILITY CASES —— PROFESSIONALS. Current law requires a party in a professional liability case brought against a licensed professional who intends to call an expert witness to certify to the court and all parties in the case the expert’s name, qualifications, the purpose for calling the expert within certain time frames, depending upon whether the party is the plaintiff or defendant in the case. The bill requires a party who intends to call an expert witness to certify to the court and all parties the element of the cause of action about which the expert will testify. The bill also requires a party to disclose at least one but not more than two experts for each element of the cause of action about which an expert or experts will be called to testify.