EXPLANATION-Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in this bill is not enacted
and is intended to be omitted in the law.
FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 290
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR BURGER.
0424S.01I KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary
AN ACT
To repeal section 536.085, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to awards
of attorney's fees for certain proceedings.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 536.085, RSMo, is repealed and one new 1
section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 536.085, 2
to read as follows:3
536.085. As used in section 536.087, the following 1
terms mean: 2
(1) "Agency proceeding", an adversary proceeding in a 3
contested case pursuant to this chapter in which the state 4
is represented by counsel, but does not include proceedings 5
for determining the eligibility or entitlement of an 6
individual to a monetary benefit or its equivalent, child 7
custody proceedings, eminent domain proceedings, driver's 8
license proceedings, vehicle registration proceedings, 9
proceedings to establish or fix a rate, or proceedings 10
before the state tax commission; 11
(2) "Party": 12
(a) An individual whose net worth did not exceed two 13
million dollars at the time the civil action or agency 14
proceeding was initiated; or 15
(b) Any owner of an unincorpor ated business or any 16
partnership, corporation, association, unit of local 17
government or organization, the net worth of which did not 18 SB 290 2
exceed seven million dollars at the time the civil action or 19
agency proceeding was initiated, and which had not more th an 20
five hundred employees at the time the civil action or 21
agency proceeding was initiated; 22
(3) "Prevails", obtains a favorable order, decision, 23
judgment, or dismissal in a civil action or agency 24
proceeding; 25
(4) "Reasonable fees and expenses " includes the 26
reasonable expenses of expert witnesses, the reasonable cost 27
of any study, analysis, engineering report, test, or project 28
which is found by the court or agency to be necessary for 29
the preparation of the party's case, and reasonable attor ney 30
or agent fees. The amount of fees awarded as reasonable 31
fees and expenses shall be based upon prevailing market 32
rates for the kind and quality of the services furnished, 33
except that no expert witness shall be compensated at a rate 34
in excess of the highest rate of compensation for expert 35
witnesses paid by the state in the type of civil action or 36
agency proceeding[, and attorney fees shall not be awarded 37
in excess of seventy -five dollars per hour unless the court 38
determines that a special factor , such as the limited 39
availability of qualified attorneys for the proceedings 40
involved, justifies a higher fee ]; 41
(5) "State", the state of Missouri, its officers and 42
its agencies, but shall not include political subdivisions 43
of the state. 44