HB 1551: Attorney Fee Awards in Insurance Actions

GENERAL BILL by Cassel; (CO-INTRODUCERS) Stark

Attorney Fee Awards in Insurance Actions; Requires court to award attorney fees to prevailing parties in civil actions brought against surplus lines insurers & insurers by named or omnibus insureds or named beneficiaries; provides guidelines to determine prevailing parties; provides applicability of prevailing party attorney fee provision to specified insurers, insurance policies or coverage types, & rate standards & to claims presented to specified guaranty associations.

Current Bill Version Posted: 2/28/2025 04:07 PM

• Related Bills (2)

  Bill Number Subject Filed By Last Action and Location	Relationship Learn more about bill relationships
  H 947 (c2) by Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee Civil Actions Last Action: 4/17/2025 H 1st Reading (Committee Substitute 2)	Compare
  S 426 by Martin Attorney Fees in Insurance Matters Last Action: 3/10/2025 S Introduced	Compare

• Analyses (2)

  Links in this section are PDF documents.

  • Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee (Post-Meeting)   3/13/2025
  • Insurance & Banking Subcommittee (Post-Meeting)   3/21/2025

• Citations - Statute (15)

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  86.121	Attorney fees; actions for declaratory relief to determine insurance coverage after total coverage denial of claim.	Page 3 [pdf]
  624.123	Certain international health insurance policies; exemption from code.	Page 5 [pdf]
  624.1552	Civil actions involving an insurance contract; applicability of offer of judgment provisions.	Page 3 [pdf]
  624.488	Applicability of related laws.	Page 6 [pdf]
  626.9375		Page 3 [pdf]
  627.062	Rate standards.	Page 6 [pdf]
  627.401	Scope of this part.	Page 7 [pdf]
  627.4275		Page 4 [pdf]
  627.727	Motor vehicle insurance; uninsured and underinsured vehicle coverage; insolvent insurer protection.	Page 7 [pdf]
  627.736	Required personal injury protection benefits; exclusions; priority; claims.	Page 7 [pdf]
  627.756	Bonds for construction contracts; attorney fees in case of suit.	Page 8 [pdf]
  628.6016	Applicability of related laws.	Page 9 [pdf]
  631.696		Page 10 [pdf]
  631.9245		Page 10 [pdf]
  632.638	Applicability of other code provisions.	Page 10 [pdf]

• Bill History

  S = Senate, H = House

  2/28/2025	H	• Filed
  3/4/2025	H	• 1st Reading (Original Filed Version)
  3/5/2025	H	• Referred to Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee • Referred to Insurance & Banking Subcommittee • Referred to Judiciary Committee • Now in Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee
  3/11/2025	H	• Added to Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee agenda
  3/13/2025	H	• Favorable by Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee • Reported out of Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee • Now in Insurance & Banking Subcommittee
  3/18/2025	H	• Added to Insurance & Banking Subcommittee agenda
  3/20/2025	H	• Favorable by Insurance & Banking Subcommittee
  3/21/2025	H	• Reported out of Insurance & Banking Subcommittee • Now in Judiciary Committee