By: Averitt S.B. No. 1432
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the liability of highway, road and street contractors.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Title 4 of the Civil Practice & Remedies Code is
hereby amended by adding Chapter 94 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 94. LIABILITY OF CONTRACTORS OF HIGHWAYS, ROADS OR
STREETS.
Sec. 94.001. LIMIT ON LIABILITY.
(a) A contractor who performs the construction or repair of
any highway, road or street for any governmental unit is not liable
for personal injury, property damage, or death to third parties
resulting from or arising out of the performance of or any failure
to perform the construction or repair if, at the time of such
personal injury, property damage or death, the contractor is in
substantial compliance with all specifications for such
construction or repair required by the contracting governmental
unit.
(b) A contractor who performs the construction or repair of
any highway, road or street for any governmental unit may be liable
for personal injury, property damage, or death to third parties
resulting from or arising out of the performance of or any failure
to perform the construction or repair if, at the time of such
personal injury, property damage or death, the contractor is not in
substantial compliance with all specifications for such
construction or repair required by the contracting governmental
unit and such failure is the proximate cause of the personal injury,
property damage or death to a third party.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and
applies to a cause of action that accrues on or after that date. An
action that accrued before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect at the time the action accrued, and
that law in continued in effect for that purpose.