HOUSE AUTHOR: Nixon et al. |
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EFFECTIVE: See below |
SENATE SPONSOR: Ratliff |
House Bill 4 amends provisions of the law relating to certain procedures and remedies in civil actions.
• Article 1. Class Actions. Requires the supreme court to adopt rules to provide for the fair and efficient resolution of class actions and to calculate attorney's fees. Requires a trial court, before hearing or deciding a motion to certify a class action, to rule on all pending pleas regarding the jurisdiction of a state agency and whether a party has exhausted all administrative remedies. Sets forth guidelines for a petition for review and interlocutory appeals.
• Article 2. Settlement. Establishes rules for making a settlement offer and awarding litigation costs and requires the supreme court to promulgate rules regarding settlement offers by January 1, 2004.
• Article 3. Venue; Forum Non Conveniens. Authorizes the supreme court to adopt rules relating to transfer of related cases for consolidated or coordinated pretrial proceedings. Establishes a judicial panel on multidistrict litigation to transfer civil actions involving one or more common questions of fact pending in certain courts. Requires each plaintiff in a suit involving multiple plaintiffs to establish proper venue. Requires a court to decline to exercise jurisdiction if on written motion of a party the court finds that a claim or action would be more properly heard in a forum outside this state. Requires the court to decline to exercise jurisdiction under the doctrine of forum non conveniens and stay or dismiss the claim or action.
• Article 4. Proportionate Responsibility and Designation of Responsible Parties. Establishes guidelines for a defendant to designate a person as a responsible third party. Provides that a defendant, who with the specific intent to do harm, acted with another to commit certain criminal offenses, may be held jointly and severally liable for damages. Limits an insurance carrier's subrogation interest to the amount of the total benefits paid or assumed by the carrier to the employee or the legal beneficiary, less the amount by which the court reduces the judgment based on the percentage of responsibility attributable to the employer.
• Article 5. Products Liability. Provides that a seller who did not manufacture a product is not liable for harm caused to the claimant by that product except under certain circumstances. Establishes a rebuttable presumption for defendants, including a health care provider, manufacturer, distributor, and prescriber, in actions alleging injury to a claimant with regard to a pharmaceutical product and for actions alleging injury to a claimant brought against a product manufacturer or seller that relates to the formulation, labeling, or design of a product if certain conditions are met. Sets out certain criteria that the claimant must establish to rebut the presumption in these product liability actions.
• Article 6. Interest. Establishes that the prime rate as published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is used to compute the postjudgment interest rate at specific percentages determined on the date of computation and provides that prejudgment interest may not be assessed or recovered on an award of future damages.
• Article 7. Appeal Bonds. Establishes the amount of security required for an appeal bond when the judgment is for money.
• Article 8. Evidence Relating to Seat Belts. Repeals the provision prohibiting evidence of use or nonuse of a seat belt in a civil trial.
• Article 9. Reserved.
• Article 10. Health Care. Sets out provisions for medical liability civil actions relating to general provisions, notice and pleadings, informed consent, emergency care, res ipsa loquitur, statute of limitations, liability limits, procedural provisions, expert witnesses, arbitration agreements, and payment for future losses. Limits the liability in certain civil actions brought against a hospital, hospital system, or its employees, officers, directors, or volunteers to $500,000. States findings of the legislature regarding health care liability claims.
• Article 11. Claims Against Employees or Volunteers of a Governmental Unit. Deletes the exclusion of a health care provider from the limitation of personal liability for damages in excess of $100,000. Defines a "municipal hospital management contractor" and redefines "hospital district management contractor" to establish that for certain purposes they are considered governmental units and their employees are employees of governmental units. Provides for the election of remedies by a plaintiff, claimant, or party and establishes the circumstances under which a party is barred from any suit or recovery against a governmental unit or its employees.
• Article 12. Reserved.
• Article 13. Damages. Allows exemplary damages only if the jury was unanimous in regard to finding liability for and the amount of exemplary damages. Provides that recovery of medical or health care expenses incurred is limited to the amount actually paid or incurred by or on behalf of the claimant. Establishes the proof required to recover loss of earnings, earning capacity, contributions of a pecuniary value, or loss of inheritance.
• Article 14. Reserved.
• Article 15. School Employees. Defines "professional employee of a school district" and sets forth procedures required to bring suit against a professional employee.
• Article 16. Admissibility of Certain Evidence in Civil Action. Establishes the evidence that is prohibited in a civil action against nursing institutions.
• Article 17. Limitations in Civil Actions of Liabilities Relating to Certain Mergers or Consolidations. Establishes that the cumulative successor asbestos-related liabilities of a corporation are limited to the fair market value of the total gross assets of the transferor determined as of the time of the merger or consolidation and sets forth procedures relating to establishing the fair market value of the total gross assets.
• Article 18. Charitable Immunity and Liability. Provides immunity from civil liability for all volunteers of an organization, not just those who serve as an officer, director, or trustee.
• Article 19. Liability of Volunteer Fire Departments and Volunteer Fire Fighters. Establishes that a volunteer fire department and its fire fighters are liable for an error or omission only to the extent that a county and its employees would be liable and that they are entitled to the same exclusions, exceptions, immunities, and defenses applicable to the county and its employees.
• Article 20. Design Professionals. Requires a person filing an action for damages alleging professional negligence by a design professional to file an affidavit from either a registered architect or as licensed professional engineer that sets forth the negligence and the factual basis for each claim.
• Article 21. Limitations of Liability. Establishes that an owner, lessee, or occupant of real property is liable for trespass as a result of migration or transport of any contaminant, other than an odor, only upon the showing of actual and substantial damages by a plaintiff in a civil action.
• Article 22. Community Benefits and Charity Care. Establishes the criteria and procedures for a nonprofit hospital or hospital system that provides charity care to be certified by the Texas Department of Health for limited liability of money damages.
• Article 23. Accelerated Appeal. Authorizes actions concerning the constitutionality and validity of Article 10 to be determined in a Travis County district court. Establishes that an appeal of the judgment or order from the district or appellate court is an accelerated appeal.
The bill takes effect September 1, 2003, except for Article 17, which takes effect June 11, 2003.