IN SB0178

Requires courts to award reasonable attorney's fees to prevailing parties in civil actions filed after June 30, 2013, when the nonprevailing party brought a frivolous, unreasonable, vexatious, or groundless claim or defense, continued litigating after claims clearly became groundless, or litigated in bad faith

Exempts governmental entities and government employees acting in their official capacity from liability for attorney's fees awarded under this provision

Amends numerous existing Indiana statutes across multiple areas of law (public records, open meetings, trade secrets, insurance examinations, consumer leases, parenting time disputes, and others) to conform with the new mandatory attorney's fee requirements

Limits attorney's fee liability to only those nonprevailing parties who engaged in the specified improper conduct, and restricts fee awards to issues on which the party did not prevail when a party won on some claims but lost on others

Effective July 1, 2013, with provisions specifying that civil actions commenced before that date remain subject to prior law regarding attorney's fees