1-1 By: Haywood S.B. No. 755
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 1, 1999; March 2, 1999, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Economic Development;
1-4 April 30, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 5,
1-5 Nays 2; April 30, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to limitations on repetitive awards of exemplary damages.
1-9 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10 SECTION 1. Section 41.001, Civil Practice and Remedies Code,
1-11 is amended by adding Subdivision (8) to read as follows:
1-12 (8) "Same course of conduct" means acts or omissions,
1-13 or a series of acts or omissions, that cause or contribute to
1-14 causing the same or substantially similar risks of harm. In
1-15 products liability actions, the term includes substantially the
1-16 same defects in design, substantially the same manufacturing
1-17 defects, or failures to warn of substantially the same hazards,
1-18 with respect to substantially similar units of a product. A course
1-19 of conduct is not dissimilar merely because it results in harm to
1-20 different property or persons.
1-21 SECTION 2. Subsections (a) and (b), Section 41.002, Civil
1-22 Practice and Remedies Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-23 (a) This chapter applies to any action in which a claimant
1-24 seeks exemplary damages relating to a cause of action under the
1-25 laws of this state or any other state.
1-26 (b) This chapter establishes the maximum exemplary damages
1-27 that may be awarded in an action subject to this chapter, including
1-28 an action for which exemplary damages are awarded under another law
1-29 [of this state]. This chapter does not apply to the extent that
1-30 another law establishes a lower maximum amount of exemplary damages
1-31 for a particular claim.
1-32 SECTION 3. Section 41.008, Civil Practice and Remedies Code,
1-33 is amended by amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsection (f) to
1-34 read as follows:
1-35 (e) If a defendant has paid damages for or has been held
1-36 liable for exemplary damages for the same course of conduct or acts
1-37 made the subject of the claimant's claim, the amount of exemplary
1-38 damages awarded against that defendant shall be reduced by the
1-39 total amount of exemplary damages previously awarded against the
1-40 defendant by any state or federal court in any jurisdiction for
1-41 that course of conduct or acts. The limitation prescribed by this
1-42 subsection shall be applied after the limitation prescribed by
1-43 Subsection (b). The court shall receive evidence outside the
1-44 presence of the jury concerning previous payments and judgments for
1-45 exemplary damages made by or entered against the defendant.
1-46 (f) The provisions of Subsections (a), [and] (b), and (e)
1-47 may not be made known to a jury by any means, including voir dire,
1-48 introduction into evidence, argument, or instruction.
1-49 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-50 SECTION 5. This Act applies to a civil action commenced on
1-51 or after the effective date of this Act or pending on the effective
1-52 date of this Act and in which the trial, or any new trial or
1-53 retrial following motion, appeal, or otherwise, begins on or after
1-54 that date. In an action commenced before the effective date of
1-55 this Act, a trial, new trial, or retrial that is in progress on
1-56 that date is governed with respect to the subject matter of this
1-57 Act by the applicable law in effect immediately before that date,
1-58 and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-59 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
1-60 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-61 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-62 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-63 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-64 * * * * *