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House Bill 1325 |
House Author: Miller, Doug et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-13 |
Senate Sponsor: Duncan |
House Bill 1325 amends Civil Practice and Remedies Code provisions regarding certain civil actions arising from exposure to asbestos and silica. The bill requires a multidistrict litigation pretrial court, beginning on September 1, 2014, to dismiss each action for an asbestos-related or silica-related injury that was pending on August 31, 2005, unless a compliant physician report was served on or after September 1, 2013. The bill requires all such actions to be dismissed on or before August 31, 2015, and specifies that such a dismissal is without prejudice to the right to file a subsequent action for an asbestos-related or silica-related injury. The bill specifies the law applicable to a subsequent action filed by a claimant whose action was administratively dismissed or by a claimant who voluntarily dismissed an action that was subject to administrative dismissal. With regard to a claimant who refiles an administratively dismissed claim, the bill provides that the refiled action will be treated as pending and awaiting service of a compliant medical report and sets out the authorized methods of serving the petition and citation for the action on a defendant in the dismissed action. Finally, the bill specifies that its provisions are not intended to be regarded as a decision on the merits of a dismissed action, to affect the rights of any party in a bankruptcy proceeding, or to affect the ability of a person to satisfy claim criteria for compensable claims or demands under a bankruptcy trust under federal law and that the tort system rights of administratively dismissed actions are specifically preserved.