By Zaffirini S.B. No. 1812
76R8072 AJA-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to certain inherently unsafe products.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 82.004, Civil Practice and Remedies Code,
1-5 is amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (a) In a products liability action, a manufacturer or seller
1-8 shall not be liable if:
1-9 (1) the product is inherently unsafe and the product
1-10 is known to be unsafe by the ordinary consumer who consumes the
1-11 product with the ordinary knowledge common to the community; and
1-12 (2) the product is a common consumer product intended
1-13 for personal consumption, such as sugar, castor oil, alcohol,
1-14 [tobacco,] and butter, as identified in Comment i to Section 402A
1-15 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts.
1-16 (c) Notwithstanding Comment i to Section 402A of the
1-17 Restatement (Second) of Torts, tobacco is not a common consumer
1-18 product intended for personal consumption for purposes of this
1-19 section.
1-20 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-21 applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after that
1-22 date. An action that accrues before the effective date of this Act
1-23 is governed by the law applicable to the action immediately before
1-24 the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect
2-1 for that purpose.
2-2 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-3 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-4 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-5 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-6 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.