Senate committee advances bill to let consumer-credit claims survive a claimant’s death

The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee voted to report Engrossed House Bill 3162 as amended to the full Senate with the recommendation that it do pass and, under its original double-committee reference, first be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Committee counsel told the panel the bill adds language to the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act to expand the definition of “consumer” to include administrators, executors and other legal representatives and to explicitly list violations of that act among causes of action that survive the death of a claimant. "This bill adds language to the West Virginia, Consumer Credit and Protection Act," counsel said during the committee presentation.

The change is intended to address a 2016 West Virginia Supreme Court ruling in Diane Horton v. Professional Bureau of Collections of Maryland, Inc., in which the court held certain consumer-protection claims did not clearly fall within existing survivability statutes and therefore did not survive a party’s death. Counsel described facts from the case and said the bill would allow estate representatives to pursue similar claims instead of having them dismissed after a claimant dies.

During review, a senator from the 17th District proposed and won a stylistic amendment to add the terms "administratrix" and "executrix" to the committee amendment. "I don't usually waive the girl card, but I would rather be an administratrix or an executrix than an other legal representative," the senator said during debate. The committee adopted that amendment, then adopted a strike-and-insert committee amendment as explained by counsel.

After adopting the amendments, the vice chairman moved that the engrossed bill as amended be reported to the full Senate with a recommendation that it do pass but first be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary; the committee approved the motion by voice vote with the chair saying, "In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it." The committee did not record roll-call tallies in the transcript provided.

Why it matters: supporters said the bill would let estate representatives continue or begin consumer-protection actions on behalf of deceased claimants so that alleged violations—such as certain debt-collection practices—are not dismissed solely because the claimant died. The committee record notes an AARP position paper was made available to members.

The bill will go next to the full Senate and then, per the committee motion, to the Judiciary Committee for further consideration.