AB 1414: Civil actions: consumer debt.

Existing law prescribes periods for commencement of various actions. Among others, an action upon book account must be commenced within 4 years of the date of the last item on the account, as specified. Existing law defines book account for these purposes as a detailed statement constituting the principal record of transactions between a debtor and a creditor.

This bill would exclude consumer debt from the definition of book account. The bill would define consumer debt to mean any obligation or alleged obligation, incurred on or after July 1, 2024, of a consumer to pay money arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance, or services that are the subject of the transaction are primarily for personal, family, or household purposes and where the obligation to pay appears on the face of a note or written contract.

Existing law permits actions to recover money damages. Under existing case law, courts recognize that common counts may be used to do so as a simplified form of pleading to assert the existence of various forms of monetary indebtedness.

This bill would prohibit the use of common counts, as defined, to recover consumer debt, as defined.