|
House Bill 240 |
House Author: Hernandez |
|
Effective: 9-1-17 |
Senate Sponsor: Huffman |
House Bill 240 amends the Civil Practice and Remedies Code to authorize a law enforcement agency to provide notice to each person maintaining a property leased to a person operating a massage establishment at which the agency made an arrest related to prostitution or the provision of violative massage services. The bill establishes that proof that such a prostitution-related activity is committed at a licensed massage establishment or an establishment advertised as offering massage services after the notice was provided is prima facie evidence that the defendant knowingly tolerated the activity and that proof that violative massage services were provided at such a place after the notice was provided is prima facie evidence that the defendant knowingly tolerated the activity and did not make a reasonable attempt to abate the activity. The bill establishes that evidence of a previously filed suit to abate a common nuisance that resulted in a judgment against a landowner is admissible in a subsequent suit to demonstrate that the landowner knowingly tolerated the activity and did not make a reasonable attempt to abate the activity.