By Hilbert H.B. No. 1022
75R4041 DLF-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to remedies and the award of damages in certain civil
1-3 actions.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 33.012(b), Civil Practice and Remedies
1-6 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-7 (b) If the claimant has settled with one or more persons,
1-8 the court shall further reduce the amount of damages to be
1-9 recovered by the claimant with respect to a cause of action by a
1-10 credit equal to one of the following, as elected in accordance with
1-11 Section 33.014:
1-12 (1) the sum of the dollar amounts of all settlements;
1-13 or
1-14 (2) a percentage equal to the sum of the settling
1-15 persons' percentages of responsibility [a dollar amount equal to
1-16 the sum of the following percentages of damages found by the trier
1-17 of fact:]
1-18 [(A) 5 percent of those damages up to $200,000;]
1-19 [(B) 10 percent of those damages from $200,001
1-20 to $400,000;]
1-21 [(C) 15 percent of those damages from $400,001
1-22 to $500,000; and]
1-23 [(D) 20 percent of those damages greater than
1-24 $500,000].
2-1 SECTION 2. Subtitle C, Title 2, Civil Practice and Remedies
2-2 Code, is amended by adding Chapter 42 to read as follows:
2-3 CHAPTER 42. EVIDENCE OF COLLATERAL BENEFITS ADMISSIBLE AT TRIAL
2-4 Sec. 42.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
2-5 (1) "Claimant" means a party seeking to recover
2-6 damages, including a plaintiff, counterclaimant, cross-claimant, or
2-7 third-party plaintiff. In an action in which a party seeks
2-8 recovery of damages for injury to another person, damage to the
2-9 property of another person, or death of another person, or for
2-10 other harm to another person caused by tortious conduct, the term
2-11 includes both that other person and the person seeking recovery of
2-12 damages.
2-13 (2) "Collateral benefits" means an amount that is:
2-14 (A) paid to or for the benefit of a claimant, or
2-15 reasonably expected to be paid to or for the benefit of the
2-16 claimant, as a result of the personal injury, property damage,
2-17 death, or other harm for which the claimant seeks damages; and
2-18 (B) paid or expected to be paid under:
2-19 (i) a state or federal program providing
2-20 benefits for medical expenses or disability;
2-21 (ii) a health benefit plan or
2-22 income-disability insurance;
2-23 (iii) accident insurance that provides
2-24 health benefits or income-disability coverage;
2-25 (iv) property insurance;
2-26 (v) any insurance, including business
2-27 interruption insurance, that provides coverage for loss of use of
3-1 property or related loss of income; and
3-2 (vi) workers' compensation benefits.
3-3 (3) "Health benefit plan" means any contract or
3-4 agreement of a group, organization, partnership, or corporation to
3-5 provide, pay for, or reimburse the cost of medical, hospital,
3-6 dental, or other health care services, including:
3-7 (A) an individual, group, blanket, or franchise
3-8 insurance policy, insurance agreement, or group hospital service
3-9 contract that provides benefits for medical or surgical expense
3-10 incurred as a result of an accident or sickness; or
3-11 (B) an evidence of coverage or group subscriber
3-12 contract issued by a health maintenance organization.
3-13 Sec. 42.002. APPLICABILITY. This chapter applies only to an
3-14 action in which a claimant seeks damages for personal injury,
3-15 property, or death, or damages for other harm caused by tortious
3-16 conduct.
3-17 Sec. 42.003. EVIDENCE OF COLLATERAL BENEFITS ADMISSIBLE.
3-18 (a) Evidence of collateral benefits is relevant to the nature and
3-19 extent of the claimant's damages and is admissible for that
3-20 purpose.
3-21 (b) Any party may introduce at trial evidence of collateral
3-22 benefits.
3-23 SECTION 3. Section 2, Article 1.05, Title 79, Revised
3-24 Statutes (Article 5069-1.05, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
3-25 amended to read as follows:
3-26 Sec. 2. Except as provided in Section 1 of this article, all
3-27 judgments, together with taxable court costs, of the courts of this
4-1 state earn interest, compounded annually, at the rate published by
4-2 the consumer credit commissioner in the Texas Register. The
4-3 consumer credit commissioner shall compute on the 15th day of each
4-4 month the judgment interest rate by taking the auction rate quoted
4-5 on a discount basis for 52-week treasury bills issued by the United
4-6 States government as published by the Federal Reserve Board on the
4-7 most recent date preceding the date of computation. The interest
4-8 rate so computed shall be the judgment rate[, except that if the
4-9 rate so computed is less than 10 percent, the judgment interest
4-10 rate shall be 10 percent, and if it be more than 20 percent, the
4-11 judgment interest rate shall be 20 percent]. The rate established
4-12 on that computation date shall be the interest rate on judgments
4-13 for the next calendar month.
4-14 SECTION 4. Section 6, Article 1.05, Title 79, Revised
4-15 Statutes (Article 5069-1.05, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
4-16 amended by amending Subsections (a) and (d) and adding Subsections
4-17 (h) and (i) to read as follows:
4-18 (a) Judgments in all actions for wrongful death, personal
4-19 injury, [and] property damage, tortious conduct that results in
4-20 harm, and contract actions not governed by Section 1 of this
4-21 article [cases] must include prejudgment interest on past economic
4-22 damages. Except as provided by Subsections (b), (c), and (d) of
4-23 this section, the prejudgment interest accrual period begins
4-24 [accrues on the amount of the judgment during the period beginning
4-25 on the 180th day after the date the defendant receives written
4-26 notice of a claim or] on the day the action [suit] is filed and
4-27 ends[, whichever occurs first, and ending] on the day immediately
5-1 preceding the date judgment is rendered.
5-2 (d) Prejudgment [In addition to the exceptions provided
5-3 under Subsections (b) and (c) of this section, the court in its
5-4 discretion may order that prejudgment] interest [does or] does not
5-5 accrue during periods of delay in the trial[, taking into
5-6 consideration:]
5-7 [(1) periods of delay caused by a defendant; and]
5-8 [(2) periods of delay] caused by a claimant.
5-9 (h) A court may not award prejudgment interest on attorney's
5-10 fees, damages other than economic damages, or future damages.
5-11 (i) In this section, "economic damages" means compensatory
5-12 damages for pecuniary loss. The term does not include exemplary
5-13 damages or damages for physical pain and mental anguish, loss of
5-14 consortium, disfigurement, physical impairment, or loss of
5-15 companionship and society.
5-16 SECTION 5. (a) This Act applies to all actions:
5-17 (1) commenced on or after the effective date of this
5-18 Act; or
5-19 (2) pending on that effective date and in which the
5-20 trial, or any new trial or retrial following motion, appeal, or
5-21 otherwise, begins on or after that effective date.
5-22 (b) In an action commenced before the effective date of this
5-23 Act, a trial, new trial, or retrial that is in progress on the
5-24 effective date is governed by the law applicable to the trial, new
5-25 trial, or retrial immediately before the effective date, and that
5-26 law is continued in effect for that purpose.
5-27 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
6-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
6-5 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
6-6 passage, and it is so enacted.