By:  Culberson                                         H.B. No. 532
       73R2775 DLF-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the validity of certain contracts entered into by an
    1-3  injured tort victim or a representative of an injured tort victim.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Title 6, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Chapter 136 to read as follows:
    1-7      CHAPTER 136.  CONTRACTS ENTERED INTO BY INJURED TORT VICTIM
    1-8        Sec. 136.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:
    1-9              (1)  "Attorney's contract" means an agreement to employ
   1-10  an attorney to represent a person in an effort to recover damages
   1-11  for personal injuries or death.  The term includes a power of
   1-12  attorney that permits an attorney to settle a claim for personal
   1-13  injuries or death.
   1-14              (2)  "Personal representative" has the meaning assigned
   1-15  by Section 3, Texas Probate Code.
   1-16              (3)  "Release" means a waiver of available civil
   1-17  remedies by a person who has or may have a legal claim for damages
   1-18  for personal injury or death against another.
   1-19        Sec. 136.002.  VALIDITY OF RELEASE.  (a)  If a release
   1-20  conforms to the requirements of this section, it is valid and may
   1-21  release claims for injuries that the person signing the release
   1-22  does not know, at the time the release is signed, were sustained.
   1-23        (b)  The release must be in writing.
   1-24        (c)  The release must be signed by the person who is entitled
    2-1  to enforce the claims covered by the release.
    2-2        (d)  A release that conforms to the requirements of this
    2-3  section is valid in the manner described by Subsection (a) without
    2-4  considering, in determining the parties intended to form a
    2-5  contract, the conduct of the parties to the release and the
    2-6  information available to them at the time the release was signed.
    2-7        Sec. 136.003.  VOIDABILITY OF CERTAIN RELEASES.  (a)  An
    2-8  injured person or the personal representative of an injured person
    2-9  may void, before the 61st day after the date that the release was
   2-10  signed, a release that was signed by the injured person before the
   2-11  30th day after the date the person sustained the injury.
   2-12        (b)  A court may not enforce a release voided as provided by
   2-13  this section.
   2-14        (c)  This section applies only to a release of claims for
   2-15  personal injury or death.
   2-16        Sec. 136.004.  VOIDABILITY OF CERTAIN ATTORNEY'S CONTRACTS.
   2-17  (a)  An injured person or the personal representative of an injured
   2-18  person may void, before the 61st day after the date that the
   2-19  attorney's contract was signed, an attorney's contract that was
   2-20  signed by the injured person before the 30th day after the date the
   2-21  person sustained the injury.
   2-22        (b)  A court may not enforce an attorney's contract voided
   2-23  under this section.
   2-24        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
   2-25  applies only to a contract entered into on or after the effective
   2-26  date of this Act.  A contract entered into before the effective
   2-27  date of this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the
    3-1  contract was entered into, and that law is continued in effect for
    3-2  that purpose.
    3-3        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-4  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-5  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-6  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-7  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.