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House Bill 19 |
House Author: Leach et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-21 |
Senate Sponsor: Taylor et al. |
House Bill 19 amends the Civil Practice and Remedies Code to provide a framework for trial procedures, the use of evidence, and the determination of liability in certain civil actions involving accidents in which a commercial motor vehicle causes bodily injury or death. The bill requires a court, on a defendant's motion, to provide for a bifurcated trial in which the trier of fact must determine the liability for and the amount of compensatory damages in the first phase of the trial and then determine the liability for and the amount of exemplary damages in the second phase of the trial. The bill establishes that evidence of a defendant's failure to comply with a regulation or standard is admissible in the first phase of the trial only if certain conditions are met.
House Bill 19 establishes that an employer defendant's liability for damages caused by the ordinary negligence of a person operating the defendant's commercial motor vehicle must be based only on respondeat superior if the defendant stipulates that at the time of the accident the person operating the vehicle was the defendant's employee and was acting within the scope of employment. In the first phase of a bifurcated trial in which the employer defendant makes such a stipulation, a claimant may not present evidence on an ordinary negligence claim against the employer defendant in relation to the employee defendant's operation of the vehicle if that claim is of a nature that depends on a prerequisite finding by the trier of fact of employee negligence in operating the vehicle. However, the bill sets out certain evidence that may be presented in the first phase of a bifurcated trial in a civil action in which an employer defendant is regulated by the federal Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 or Transportation Code provisions governing commercial motor vehicle safety standards. Such evidence is admissible in the first phase only to prove ordinary negligent entrustment by the employer defendant to the employee who was driving the employer defendant's commercial motor vehicle at the time of the accident.
House Bill 19 prohibits a court from requiring expert testimony for admission into evidence of a photograph or video of a vehicle or object involved in an accident that is the subject of an applicable action, except as necessary to authenticate the photograph or video, and establishes that a properly authenticated photograph or video of such a vehicle or object is presumed admissible.
House Bill 19 amends the Insurance Code to require the Texas Department of Insurance to submit a biennial report to the legislature on the bill's effect on premiums, deductibles, coverage, and availability of coverage for commercial automobile insurance.