AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATED TO COURTS AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE.

Under current Delaware law, the county sheriff’s offices are required to appraise goods that are being levied upon to pay debts. In addition, the sheriff’s offices can be held liable to pay the debts of a judgment debtor if, for example, they inadvertently neglect to make a return on a writ of execution. The appraisal provisions in Title 10 of the Delaware Code addressed in this act are out-of-date and impractical to implement. On the subject of the liability of the sheriff's offices, it is a questionable policy to require the sheriff’s office to pay the debt of a judgment debtor for an inadvertent mistake in handling the procedure to levy upon and sell the debtor’s property. This act repeals the appraisal provisions in Title 10 related to the sheriff’s offices. It also repeals provisions imposing liability on the sheriff’s office to pay debt obligations of debtors who fail to pay their bills, when the sheriff’s office commits an error through neglect.