republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/151/sb-258.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	AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CIVIL ACTIONS FOR TORTIOUS INJURIES, INCLUDING DEATH, TO LAWFULLY OWNED PETS.	This Act abrogates current Delaware law as it presently stands regarding available recovery for damages related to injured or deceased pets that are tortiously injured by a third party or a third party’s animal. Under current Delaware law, including cases such as Naples v. Miller, 2009 WL 1163504, (Del. Super. Ct. Apr. 30, 2009), there are substantial limitations on a pet owner’s ability to recover amounts related to the cost of veterinary bills because animals that are pets in Delaware are treated as property. This Act does not change the status of pets as property but does provide new causes of action to address tortious injury to a pet.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	151	SB 258	Delaware SB 258 (151)	bill		enacted	Andria L. Bennett Ernesto B. Lopez	2	10	3	2022-05-11	2022-10-14	openstates	ocd-bill/a2c20370-77c6-45bb-b6a1-2efc349d4fe7	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=109461	c39385d868020ae960a7db6eb1b012143893b6fbdf7c67a34a08f46449304e75	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware SB 258 (151) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CIVIL ACTIONS FOR TORTIOUS INJURIES, INCLUDING DEATH, TO LAWFULLY OWNED PETS.

This Act abrogates current Delaware law as it presently stands regarding available recovery for damages related to injured or deceased pets that are tortiously injured by a third party or a third party’s animal. Under current Delaware law, including cases such as Naples v. Miller, 2009 WL 1163504, (Del. Super. Ct. Apr. 30, 2009), there are substantial limitations on a pet owner’s ability to recover amounts related to the cost of veterinary bills because animals that are pets in Delaware are treated as property. This Act does not change the status of pets as property but does provide new causes of action to address tortious injury to a pet.

Version chain

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

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source
2. HA 1 to SS 1 for SB 258 (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 39–0 (pass) · lower
• SM — 21–0 (pass) · upper
• SM — 21–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Andria L. Bennett — primary (person)
• Ernesto B. Lopez — primary (person)
• Brian Pettyjohn — cosponsor (person)
• Bryant L. Richardson — cosponsor (person)
• Colin Bonini — cosponsor (person)
• Daniel B. Short — cosponsor (person)
• Dave G. Lawson — cosponsor (person)
• David L. Wilson — cosponsor (person)
• Jeffrey N. Spiegelman — cosponsor (person)
• Laura V. Sturgeon — cosponsor (person)
• Ruth Briggs King — cosponsor (person)
• S. Elizabeth Lockman — cosponsor (person)
• Stephanie L. Hansen — cosponsor (person)
• Trey Paradee — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2022-05-11 was introduced and adopted in lieu of SB 258 introduction
• 2022-05-19 Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES passage
• 2022-06-02 Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2022-06-15 Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 7 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2022-06-16 Amendment HA 1 to SS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2022-06-16 Amendment HA 1 to SS 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote amendment-passage
• 2022-06-16 Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 2 ABSENT passage
• 2022-06-17 Suspension of Rules in Senate
• 2022-06-17 Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES passage
• 2022-10-14 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/a2c20370-77c6-45bb-b6a1-2efc349d4fe7. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).