AB 540: Civil actions and attorneys.

(1)Existing law, the State Bar Act, requires the certification of lawyer referral services by the State Bar of California, as specified, and imposes a civil penalty and damages that are recovered in a civil action for a violation of these requirements, as specified. The act excludes certain entities from being considered a lawyer referral service for these purposes.

This bill would additionally exclude from being considered a lawyer referral service an individual attorney or a group of individual attorneys practicing together who are actively representing clients for whom they are personally providing legal services, and, incidental to that active representation, refer a potential client to another attorney under specified circumstances.

(2)Existing law establishes various requirements and deadlines for the filing and service of prescribed motions in civil actions, including a motion for summary judgment and a motion for judgment on the pleadings, as specified. A notice of motion for summary judgment or motion for judgment on the pleadings must be served on all other parties to the action at least 81 days before the time appointed for hearing, except when the notice is served by facsimile transmission, express mail, or another method of delivery providing for overnight delivery, in which case the required 81-day period of notice must be increased by 2 court days. For prescribed motions other than a motion for summary judgment or a motion for judgment on the pleadings, as specified, existing law requires a notice of such motion to be provided at least 16 court days before the hearing, except when the notice is served by facsimile transmission, express mail, or another method of delivery providing for overnight delivery, in which case the required 16-day period of notice before the hearing must be increased by 2 calendar days. Existing law authorizes the service of documents in a civil action by electronic means pursuant to rules adopted by the Judicial Council, as specified.

This bill would clarify that service of a notice of motion described above by electronic service is not among the methods of service requiring an increase to the period of notice. The bill would also make conforming changes.

The bill would establish a procedure and timeline to allow a party or non-party in a civil action, upon stipulation, to screen their sensitive medical and personal records for privacy and relevance before the records are provided to a subpoenaing party, as specified.