By:  Haywood                                           S.B. No. 755
         99S0280/1                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to limitations on repetitive awards of exemplary damages.
 1-2           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-3           SECTION 1.  Section 41.001, Civil Practice and Remedies Code,
 1-4     is amended by adding Subdivision (8) to read as follows:
 1-5                 (8)  "Same course of conduct" means acts or omissions,
 1-6     or a series of acts or omissions, that cause or contribute to
 1-7     causing the same or substantially similar risks of harm.  In
 1-8     products liability actions, the term includes substantially the
 1-9     same defects in design, substantially the same manufacturing
1-10     defects, or failures to warn of substantially the same hazards,
1-11     with respect to substantially similar units of a product.  A course
1-12     of conduct is not dissimilar merely because it results in harm to
1-13     different property or persons.
1-14           SECTION 2.  Subsections (a) and (b), Section 41.002, Civil
1-15     Practice and Remedies Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-16           (a)  This chapter applies to any action in which a claimant
1-17     seeks exemplary damages relating to a cause of action under the
1-18     laws of this state or any other state.
1-19           (b)  This chapter establishes the maximum exemplary damages
1-20     that may be awarded in an action subject to this chapter, including
1-21     an action for which exemplary damages are awarded under another law
1-22     [of this state].  This chapter does not apply to the extent that
1-23     another law establishes a lower maximum amount of exemplary damages
1-24     for a particular claim.
 2-1           SECTION 3.  Section 41.008, Civil Practice and Remedies Code,
 2-2     is amended by amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsection (f) to
 2-3     read as follows:
 2-4           (e)  If a defendant has paid damages for or has been held
 2-5     liable for exemplary damages for the same course of conduct or acts
 2-6     made the subject of the claimant's claim, the amount of exemplary
 2-7     damages awarded against that defendant shall be reduced by the
 2-8     total amount of exemplary damages previously awarded against the
 2-9     defendant by any state or federal court in any jurisdiction for
2-10     that course of conduct or acts.  The limitation prescribed by this
2-11     subsection shall be applied after the limitation prescribed by
2-12     Subsection (b). The court shall receive evidence outside the
2-13     presence of the jury concerning previous payments and judgments for
2-14     exemplary damages made by or entered against the defendant.
2-15           (f)  The provisions of Subsections (a), [and] (b), and (e)
2-16     may not be made known to a jury by any means, including voir dire,
2-17     introduction into evidence, argument, or instruction.
2-18           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-19           SECTION 5.  This Act applies to a civil action commenced on
2-20     or after the effective date of this Act or pending on the effective
2-21     date of this Act and in which the trial, or any new trial or
2-22     retrial following motion, appeal, or otherwise, begins on or after
2-23     that date.  In an action commenced before the effective date of
2-24     this Act, a trial, new trial, or retrial that is in progress on
2-25     that date is governed with respect to the subject matter of this
2-26     Act by the applicable law in effect immediately before that date,
 3-1     and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
 3-2           SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.