If a person, not a regular employee of the board, is hired, under contract, or retained under any other arrangement, paid or unpaid, to provide expertise or nonexpert testimony to the Medical Board of California or to the California Board of Podiatric Medicine, including, but not limited to, the evaluation of the conduct of an applicant or a licensee, and that person is named as a defendant in an action for defamation, malicious prosecution, or any other civil cause of action directly resulting from opinions rendered, statements made, or testimony given to, or on behalf of, the committee or its representatives, the board shall provide for representation required to defend the defendant in that civil action. The board shall be liable for any judgment rendered against that person, except that the board shall not be liable for any punitive damages award. If the plaintiff prevails in a claim for punitive damages, the defendant shall be liable to the board for the full costs incurred in providing representation to the defendant. The Attorney General shall be utilized in those actions as provided in Section 2020.

(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 678, Sec. 22. Effective January 1, 2008.)

Terms Used In California Business and Professions Code 2317

  • board: as used in this chapter means the Medical Board of California. See California Business and Professions Code 2002
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • licensee: as used in this chapter means the holder of a physician's and surgeon's certificate or doctor of podiatric medicine's certificate, as the case may be, who is engaged in the professional practice authorized by the certificate under the jurisdiction of the appropriate board. See California Business and Professions Code 2041
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • podiatric medicine: means the diagnosis, medical, surgical, mechanical, manipulative, and electrical treatment of the human foot, including the ankle and tendons that insert into the foot and the nonsurgical treatment of the muscles and tendons of the leg governing the functions of the foot. See California Business and Professions Code 2472
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
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