Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 43 of chapter 223 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1984 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 6, the words "ad damnum of the complaint" and inserting in place thereof the words:- amount of the attachment.

SECTION 2. Said chapter 223 is hereby further amended by striking out section 44, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 44. No ship or vessel shall be attached in a civil action unless the plaintiff or a person on his behalf makes affidavit and proves to the satisfaction of a justice of a court that he has a good claim and reasonable expectation of recovering an amount, exclusive of all costs, equal at least to one-third of the amount of damages claimed, which affidavit shall be annexed to the writ of attachment, and the certificate of the justice that he is satisfied that the same is true shall be annexed to the writ of attachment or endorsed thereon.

SECTION 3. Section 45 of said chapter 223, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 7, the words "ad damnum of the complaint" and inserting in place thereof the word:- attachment.

SECTION 4. Section 128 of said chapter 223, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 3, the words "ad damnum in the complaint" and inserting in place thereof the word:- attachment.

SECTION 5. Chapter 231 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 13A the following section:-

Section 13B. No complaint in any civil action shall contain an ad damnum or monetary amount claimed against any defendant, unless such ad damnum or monetary amount claimed indicates damages which are liquidated or ascertainable by calculation and a statement under oath by a person having knowledge thereof is attached to such complaint setting forth the manner in which the amount of said damages was calculated. For the purposes of this section complaint shall include a claim, crossclaim or counterclaim.

SECTION 6. Section 59A of said chapter 231, as appearing in the 1984 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 4 and 5, the words "either that the ad damnum is not more than two thousand dollars, or".

SECTION 7. The second paragraph of section 104 of said chapter 231, as appearing in section 2 of chapter 278 of the acts of 1986, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 3, the words "ad damnum" and inserting in place thereof the word:- claim.

SECTION 8. Section 1 of chapter 246 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1984 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- Trustee process may be used in accordance with the applicable rules of court in connection with the commencement of all personal actions except actions only for specific recovery of goods and chattels, for malicious prosecution, for slander and libel, or for assault and battery; and any person may be summoned as trustee of the defendant therein; but except in the case of a complaint which contains a statement that the action is upon a judgment, a contract for personal services, for goods sold and delivered, or for money due under a contract in writing, or to recover damages on account of the operation of a motor vehicle not registered in the commonwealth, no summons and complaint in any action seeking damages in excess of one thousand dollars shall be served upon any alleged trustee unless there shall have been filed by the plaintiff, if other than a city or town of the commonwealth named therein, in the court wherein such action is commenced, a bond with a surety company authorized to do business in the commonwealth as surety, or with sureties approved by a justice, associate justice or special justice of such court, said bond to be in a penal sum in such amount as the court which approves the trustee process shall require but not less than two hundred and fifty dollars and to be conditioned upon payment to the defendant, if the plaintiff fails to recover or if such action is discontinued, of all costs which may be awarded to the defendant and all damages which he may sustain by reason of such attachment, but not exceeding the penal sum of the bond, nor unless there shall have been endorsed on the complaint by the justice, associate justice or special justice who approved said bond, or by the clerk of such court, the fact that the bond required by this section has been filed in such court.

SECTION 9. This act shall take effect on July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven and shall apply to all complaints, including by way of counterclaim or crossclaim, which are filed on or after July first, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven.