The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 12 : Court Procedure

Chapter 221 : Legally Protected Health Care Activity

• § 7302. Tortious interference with legally protected health care activity

  (a) Access to reproductive health care services and gender-affirming health care services is a legal right in this State. Interference with legally protected health care activity, whether or not under the color of law, is against the public policy of this State.

  (b) Any public act or record of a foreign jurisdiction that prohibits, criminalizes, sanctions, or authorizes a person to bring a civil action against or otherwise interferes with a person, provider, payer, or other entity in this State that seeks, receives, causes, aids in access to, aids or abets, or provides, or attempts or intends to seek, receive, cause, aid in access to, aid or abet, or provide, legally protected health care services shall be an interference with the exercise and enjoyment of the rights secured by this State and shall be a violation of the public policy of this State.

  (c) If a person, whether or not acting under color of law, engages or attempts to engage in abusive litigation that infringes on or interferes with, or attempts to infringe on or interfere with, legally protected health care activity, any aggrieved person, provider, payer, or other entity, including any defendant in such abusive litigation, may initiate a civil action for injunctive, monetary, or other appropriate relief within six years after the cause of action accrues.

  (d) If the court finds for the petitioner in an action authorized by this section, recovery may include damages for the amount of any judgment issued in connection with any abusive litigation, and any and all other expenses, costs, or reasonable attorney’s fees incurred in connection with the abusive litigation and with the tortious interference action.

  (e) A court may exercise jurisdiction over a person in an action authorized by this section if:

  (1) personal jurisdiction is found;

  (2) the person has commenced any action in any court in this State and, during the pendency of that action or any appeal therefrom, a summons and complaint is served on the person or the attorney appearing on the person’s behalf in that action or as otherwise permitted by law; or

  (3) the exercise of jurisdiction is permitted under the Constitution of the United States.

  (f) Abusive litigation does not include a lawsuit or judgment entered in another state that is based on conduct for which a cause of action would exist under the laws of this State if the course of conduct that forms the basis for liability had occurred entirely in this State, including any contract, tort, common law, or statutory claims.

  (g) An attorney shall not be liable under this section, if acting on behalf of another and within the scope of the attorney’s license. A lawyer acting pro se, or a public prosecutor having the personal discretion to decide whether to bring abusive litigation, shall not be immune under this subsection. (Added 2023, No. 14, § 3, eff. May 10, 2023.)