By:  Hunter, Todd                                     H.B. No. 2235
       73R1621 DLF-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to recovery of damages for an act of barratry.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Title 6, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
    1-5  amended by adding Chapter 144 to read as follows:
    1-6              CHAPTER 144.  LIABILITY FOR ACT OF BARRATRY
    1-7        Sec. 144.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:
    1-8              (1)  "Barratry" means any act described as an offense
    1-9  under Section 38.12, Penal Code.
   1-10              (2)  "Claimant" means a party, including a plaintiff,
   1-11  counterclaimant, cross-claimant, or third party claimant, seeking
   1-12  recovery of damages for an act of barratry under this chapter.
   1-13        Sec. 144.002.  LIABILITY.  (a)  A person who has sustained
   1-14  damages as the result of an act of barratry may bring an action to
   1-15  recover damages resulting from the act.
   1-16        (b)  Damages in an action brought under this section may
   1-17  include recovery for:
   1-18              (1)  emotional distress, mental anguish, and physical
   1-19  pain; and
   1-20              (2)  loss of earning capacity.
   1-21        Sec. 144.003.  ATTORNEY'S FEES AND COSTS.  The court shall
   1-22  award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to a prevailing claimant
   1-23  in an action brought under this chapter.
   1-24        Sec. 144.004.  CRIMINAL CONVICTION NOT REQUIRED.  A person
    2-1  may bring an action under this chapter regardless of whether a
    2-2  criminal conviction under Section 38.12, Penal Code, has been
    2-3  sought or obtained against the person who committed the act of
    2-4  barratry.
    2-5        SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to a cause of action that
    2-6  accrues on or after the effective date of this Act.  An action that
    2-7  accrued before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
    2-8  law in effect at the time the action accrued, and that law is
    2-9  continued in effect for that purpose.
   2-10        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-11  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-12  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-13  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-14  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-15  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-16  passage, and it is so enacted.