republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/152/sb-81.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 WRONGFUL DEATH ACTIONS.	This statutory addition to Delaware’s Wrongful Death Act will permit the spouse, parents, children, and siblings of a deceased person to recover punitive damages when the actions resulting in the death of another person were maliciously intended or the result of willful or wanton misconduct by the at fault party. Punitive damages are intended to deter the at fault party from future similar conduct and to punish the at fault party for reckless conduct. Presently, an estate can recover punitive damages under a survival action pursuant to 10 Del C. § 3701. A survival action involves the death of an individual as the result of the at fault party where that individual suffers for a period of time before dying. Whereas, a wrongful death action involves the instantaneous death of an individual as the result of the at fault party. This led to cases where the issue of whether a defendant faced punitive damages depended not on the defendant's own actions, but on whether the deceased had suffered long enough for a survival action. This Act also clarifies the definitions of "child" and "parent."	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	152	SB 81	Delaware SB 81 (152)	bill		enacted	Bryan Townsend Cyndie Romer David P. Sokola Edward S. Osienski John "Jack" Walsh Kendra Johnson Laura V. Sturgeon Marie Pinkney Nicole Poore Paul S. Baumbach Peter C. Schwartzkopf Ruth Briggs King Sean Matthews Sherry Dorsey Walker Spiros Mantzavinos William Bush	1	7	2	2023-04-06	2023-07-17	openstates	ocd-bill/4277e78e-a131-461d-8007-62392cc88dc7	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=130197	5b2a4cd4843304a4ef01b12f5f35a859868df8c2a9ab0ae3a36f604621e97664	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware SB 81 (152) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO WRONGFUL DEATH ACTIONS.

This statutory addition to Delaware’s Wrongful Death Act will permit the spouse, parents, children, and siblings of a deceased person to recover punitive damages when the actions resulting in the death of another person were maliciously intended or the result of willful or wanton misconduct by the at fault party. Punitive damages are intended to deter the at fault party from future similar conduct and to punish the at fault party for reckless conduct. Presently, an estate can recover punitive damages under a survival action pursuant to 10 Del C. § 3701. A survival action involves the death of an individual as the result of the at fault party where that individual suffers for a period of time before dying. Whereas, a wrongful death action involves the instantaneous death of an individual as the result of the at fault party. This led to cases where the issue of whether a defendant faced punitive damages depended not on the defendant's own actions, but on whether the deceased had suffered long enough for a survival action. This Act also clarifies the definitions of "child" and "parent."

Version chain

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

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• 3/5 — 41–0 (pass) · lower
• SM — 21–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Bryan Townsend — primary (person)
• Cyndie Romer — primary (person)
• David P. Sokola — primary (person)
• Edward S. Osienski — primary (person)
• John "Jack" Walsh — primary (person)
• Kendra Johnson — primary (person)
• Laura V. Sturgeon — primary (person)
• Marie Pinkney — primary (person)
• Nicole Poore — primary (person)
• Paul S. Baumbach — primary (person)
• Peter C. Schwartzkopf — primary (person)
• Ruth Briggs King — primary (person)
• Sean Matthews — primary (person)
• Sherry Dorsey Walker — primary (person)
• Spiros Mantzavinos — primary (person)
• William Bush — primary (person)

Timeline

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

• 2023-04-06 Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2023-05-03 Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 7 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2023-05-16 Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES passage
• 2023-05-17 Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2023-06-14 Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 3 Favorable, 6 On Its Merits committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2023-06-30 Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES passage
• 2023-07-17 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/4277e78e-a131-461d-8007-62392cc88dc7. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).