79R15677 MFC-F


By:  Williams                                                     S.B. No. 890

Substitute the following for S.B. No. 890:                                    

By:  Nixon                                                    C.S.S.B. No. 890



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the amount of recovery in a civil action.                         
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 33.012(b), Civil Practice and Remedies 
Code, is amended to read as follows:
	(b)  If the claimant has settled with one or more persons, 
the court shall further reduce the amount of damages to be recovered 
by the claimant with respect to a cause of action by the sum of the 
dollar amounts of all settlements [a percentage equal to each 
settling person's percentage of responsibility].
	SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act applies to all actions:                              
		(1)  commenced on or after the effective date of this 
Act; or               
		(2)  pending on the effective date of this Act and in 
which the trial, or any new trial or retrial following motion, 
appeal, or otherwise, begins on or after that effective date.
	(b)  For an action commenced before the effective date of 
this Act, a trial, new trial, or retrial that is in progress on the 
effective date is governed by the law applicable to the trial, new 
trial, or retrial immediately before that date, and that law is 
continued in effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2005.