republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20132014/ab-2494.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Courts: frivolous actions or proceedings.	Existing law authorizes a trial court to order a party, the party's attorney, or both to pay reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, incurred by another party as a result of bad-faith actions or tactics that are frivolous or solely intended to cause unnecessary delay, if the actions or tactics arise from a complaint filed, or a proceeding initiated, on or before December 31, 1994. In addition to the reasonable expenses award, existing law authorizes the court to assess punitive damages against the plaintiff on a determination that the plaintiff's action was maintained by a person convicted of a felony against the person's victim for injuries arising from the acts for which the person was convicted, and that the plaintiff is guilty of fraud, oppression, or malice in maintaining the action.	us/states/ca	California Legislature	20132014	AB 2494	California AB 2494 (20132014)	bill	Courts: frivolous actions or proceedings.	enacted	Cooley	11	33	8	2014-02-21	2014-09-18	openstates	ocd-bill/cff54708-78f3-422a-a8c4-108e16648666	http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2494	005d3276a14beb8427328d57707f08347ba18c5e1aeafe53f430d3f434ad95f6	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-ca

California AB 2494 (20132014) — Courts: frivolous actions or proceedings.

Existing law authorizes a trial court to order a party, the party's attorney, or both to pay reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, incurred by another party as a result of bad-faith actions or tactics that are frivolous or solely intended to cause unnecessary delay, if the actions or tactics arise from a complaint filed, or a proceeding initiated, on or before December 31, 1994. In addition to the reasonable expenses award, existing law authorizes the court to assess punitive damages against the plaintiff on a determination that the plaintiff's action was maintained by a person convicted of a felony against the person's victim for injuries arising from the acts for which the person was convicted, and that the plaintiff is guilty of fraud, oppression, or malice in maintaining the action.

Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. 02/21/14 - Introduced (filed) — source
2. 04/10/14 - Amended Assembly (committee substitute) — source
3. 05/07/14 - Amended Assembly (committee substitute) — source
4. 05/23/14 - Amended Assembly (committee substitute) — source
5. 06/16/14 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
6. 07/01/14 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
7. 08/04/14 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
8. 08/19/14 - Amended Senate (committee substitute) — source
9. 09/18/14 - Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
10. AB2494 (committee substitute) — source
11. 08/29/14 - Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• Do pass as amended. — 17–0 (pass) · lower
• AB 2494 COOLEY Assembly Third Reading — 78–0 (pass) · lower
• Placed on Appropriations Suspense file. — 7–0 (pass) · upper
• Do pass as amended. — 5–0 (pass) · upper
• AB 2494 COOLEY Concurrence in Senate Amendments — 79–0 (pass) · lower
• 3rd Reading AB2494 Cooley By Lieu — 35–0 (pass) · upper
• Do pass as amended, to Consent Calendar. — 10–0 (pass) · lower
• Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — 7–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Cooley — primary (person)

Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

• 2014-02-21 Introduced. To print. introduction
• 2014-02-23 From printer. May be heard in committee March 25.
• 2014-02-24 Read first time. reading-1
• 2014-03-13 Referred to Com. on JUD. referral-committee
• 2014-04-08 In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
• 2014-04-10 From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1
• 2014-04-21 Re-referred to Com. on JUD. referral-committee
• 2014-04-22 In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
• 2014-05-06 From committee: Do pass as amended. To consent calendar. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (April 29). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage
• 2014-05-07 Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage
• 2014-05-08 Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. reading-2, reading-1
• 2014-05-08 Re-referred to Com. on APPR. pursuant to Joint Rule 10.5. referral-committee
• 2014-05-14 In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. referral-committee
• 2014-05-23 From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (May 23). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage
• 2014-05-23 Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage
• 2014-05-27 Read second time. Ordered to third reading. reading-2, reading-1
• 2014-05-28 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 5277.) reading-3, reading-1, passage
• 2014-05-28 In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. reading-1
• 2014-06-11 Referred to Com. on JUD. referral-committee
• 2014-06-16 From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1, referral-committee
• 2014-06-30 From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 24). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage
• 2014-07-01 Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1, referral-committee
• 2014-08-04 From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1, referral-committee
• 2014-08-04 In committee: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
• 2014-08-18 From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (August 14). committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage
• 2014-08-19 Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage
• 2014-08-25 Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 35. Noes 0. Page 4818.). reading-3, reading-1, passage
• 2014-08-25 In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 27 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
• 2014-08-26 Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 6444.)
• 2014-08-26 Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 6478.). committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage
• 2014-09-08 Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
• 2014-09-18 Approved by the Governor. executive-signature
• 2014-09-18 Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 425, Statutes of 2014.

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/cff54708-78f3-422a-a8c4-108e16648666. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).