NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1967 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 927

SENATE BILL 410

 

 

AN ACT TO REWRITE G.S. 6-21.1, RELATING TO COUNSEL FEES IN CERTAIN CASES.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1.  G.S. 6-21.1, as the same appears in the 1965 Cumulative Supplement to Volume 1B of the General Statutes, is hereby rewritten to read as follows:

"§ 6-21.1.  Allowance of Counsel Fees as Part of Costs in Certain Cases. In any personal injury or property damage suit, or suit against an insurance company under a policy issued by the defendant insurance company and in which the insured or beneficiary is the plaintiff, upon a finding by the court that there was an unwarranted refusal by the defendant insurance company to pay the claim which constitutes the basis of such suit, instituted in a court of record, where the judgment for recovery of damages is one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) or less, the presiding judge may, in his discretion, allow a reasonable attorney fee to the duly licensed attorney representing the litigant obtaining a judgment for damages in said suit, said attorney's fee to be taxed as a part of the court costs."

Sec. 2.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 3.  This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 27th day of June, 1967.