Fabio
83 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
83 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: "Bill"
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title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CIVIL ACTIONS FOR TORTIOUS INJURIES, INCLUDING DEATH, TO LAWFULLY OWNED PETS."
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description: "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."
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jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
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legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
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session: "151"
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identifier: "SB 258"
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citation: "Delaware SB 258 (151)"
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classification: ["bill"]
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subjects: []
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status: "enacted"
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primary_sponsors: ["Andria L. Bennett", "Ernesto B. Lopez"]
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version_count: 2
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action_count: 10
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vote_count: 3
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first_action: "2022-05-11"
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last_action: "2022-10-14"
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source: "openstates"
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source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a2c20370-77c6-45bb-b6a1-2efc349d4fe7"
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source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=109461"
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source_hash: "c39385d868020ae960a7db6eb1b012143893b6fbdf7c67a34a08f46449304e75"
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vintage: "2026-07-01"
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source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
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retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
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confidence: "reported"
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tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
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---
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# 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.
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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.
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## Version chain
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The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
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1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=109461&legislationTypeId=6&docTypeId=2&legislationName=SS1forSB258)
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2. **HA 1 to SS 1 for SB 258** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=129740&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)
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## Votes
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- SM — **39–0** (pass) · lower
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- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper
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- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper
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## Sponsors
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- Andria L. Bennett — primary (person)
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- Ernesto B. Lopez — primary (person)
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- Brian Pettyjohn — cosponsor (person)
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- Bryant L. Richardson — cosponsor (person)
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- Colin Bonini — cosponsor (person)
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- Daniel B. Short — cosponsor (person)
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- Dave G. Lawson — cosponsor (person)
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- David L. Wilson — cosponsor (person)
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- Jeffrey N. Spiegelman — cosponsor (person)
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- Laura V. Sturgeon — cosponsor (person)
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- Ruth Briggs King — cosponsor (person)
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- S. Elizabeth Lockman — cosponsor (person)
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- Stephanie L. Hansen — cosponsor (person)
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- Trey Paradee — cosponsor (person)
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## Timeline
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The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
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- **2022-05-11** was introduced and adopted in lieu of SB 258 `introduction`
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- **2022-05-19** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
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- **2022-06-02** Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
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- **2022-06-15** Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 7 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
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- **2022-06-16** Amendment HA 1 to SS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
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- **2022-06-16** Amendment HA 1 to SS 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
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- **2022-06-16** Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 2 ABSENT `passage`
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- **2022-06-17** Suspension of Rules in Senate
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- **2022-06-17** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
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- **2022-10-14** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
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## Source
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OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a2c20370-77c6-45bb-b6a1-2efc349d4fe7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).
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