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California 20252026

AB 540

Civil actions and attorneys.

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Source: Open States / PluralUpdated 2026-09-12 13:12:55 UTC.

Official record

Measure details

Jurisdiction
California
Session
20252026
Chamber
lower
Classification
bill
Subjects
Civilactionsandattorneys
Introduced / first action
2025-02-11 00:00:00

Alternate titles

  • Motions: filing and service requirements.

Source-supplied abstracts

(1) Existing law, the State Bar Act, requires the certification of lawyer referral services by the State Bar of California, as specified, and imposes a civil penalty and damages that are recovered in a civil action for a violation of these requirements, as specified. The act excludes certain entities from being considered a lawyer referral service for these purposes. This bill would additionally exclude from being considered a lawyer referral service an individual attorney or a group of individual attorneys practicing together who are actively representing clients for whom they are personally providing legal services, and, incidental to that active representation, refer a potential client to another attorney under specified circumstances. (2) Existing law establishes various requirements and deadlines for the filing and service of prescribed motions in civil actions, including a motion for summary judgment and a motion for judgment on the pleadings, as specified. A notice of motion for summary judgment or motion for judgment on the pleadings must be served on all other parties to the action at least 81 days before the time appointed for hearing, except when the notice is served by facsimile transmission, express mail, or another method of delivery providing for overnight delivery, in which case the required 81-day period of notice must be increased by 2 court days. For prescribed motions other than a motion for summary judgment or a motion for judgment on the pleadings, as specified, existing law requires a notice of such motion to be provided at least 16 court days before the hearing, except when the notice is served by facsimile transmission, express mail, or another method of delivery providing for overnight delivery, in which case the required 16-day period of notice before the hearing must be increased by 2 calendar days. Existing law authorizes the service of documents in a civil action by electronic means pursuant to rules adopted by the Judicial Council, as specified. This bill would clarify that service of a notice of motion described above by electronic service is not among the methods of service requiring an increase to the period of notice. The bill would also make conforming changes. The bill would establish a procedure and timeline to allow a party or non-party in a civil action, upon stipulation, to screen their sensitive medical and personal records for privacy and relevance before the records are provided to a subpoenaing party, as specified.

Sponsors

Source-supplied history

Actions

  1. Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1 p.m.

    executive-receipt

  2. Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 78. Noes 0.).

    amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable

  3. From committee: That the Senate amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (August 30).

    committee-passage

  4. Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended.

  5. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2.

    referral-committee

  6. In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.

  7. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0.).

    passage, reading-1, reading-3

  8. From committee: That the measure be returned to Senate Floor for consideration. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (August 26)

    committee-passage

  9. From committee: Be re-referred to Com. on JUD. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10 (b). (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

    committee-passage, referral-committee

  10. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10 (b).

    referral-committee

  11. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

    reading-1, reading-2, reading-3

  12. Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

    amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, reading-3

  13. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

    reading-1, reading-2, reading-3

  14. Ordered to second reading.

    reading-1, reading-2

  15. From inactive file.

  16. Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Laird.

  17. Ordered to third reading.

    reading-1, reading-3

  18. From Consent Calendar.

  19. Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar.

    reading-1, reading-2

  20. From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (July 1).

    committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable

  21. Referred to Com. on JUD.

    referral-committee

  22. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.

    reading-1, referral-committee

  23. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0.)

    passage, reading-1, reading-3

  24. Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar.

    reading-1, reading-2

  25. From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (March 25).

    committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable

  26. Referred to Com. on JUD.

    referral-committee

  27. From printer. May be heard in committee March 14.

  28. Read first time. To print.

    reading-1

When supplied by the API

Related measures

No resolvable related measure is supplied.