| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to civil liability of a commercial motor vehicle owner or |
|
|
operator. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Sections 72.053(a) and (b), Civil Practice and |
|
|
Remedies Code, are amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(a) In this section, "regulation or standard" includes a |
|
|
statute, regulation, rule, policy, procedure, or order regulating |
|
|
equipment or conduct, including one adopted or promulgated by the |
|
|
owner or operator of the motor vehicle, the federal government, a |
|
|
state government, a local government, or a governmental agency or |
|
|
authority. |
|
|
(b) In a civil action under this subchapter, evidence of a |
|
|
defendant's failure to comply with a regulation or standard is |
|
|
admissible in the first phase of a trial bifurcated under Section |
|
|
72.052 only if admissible under other law and, in addition to |
|
|
complying with other requirements of law: |
|
|
(1) the evidence tends to prove that failure to comply |
|
|
with the regulation or standard was a proximate cause of the bodily |
|
|
injury or death for which damages are sought in the action; and |
|
|
(2) the regulation or standard is specific and |
|
|
governs, or is an element of a duty of care applicable to, the |
|
|
defendant, the defendant's employee, or the defendant's property or |
|
|
equipment when any of those is at issue in the action. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Sections 72.054(a) and (b), Civil Practice and |
|
|
Remedies Code, are amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(a) In [Except as provided by Subsection (d), in] a civil |
|
|
action under this subchapter, an employer defendant's liability for |
|
|
damages caused by the ordinary negligence of a person operating the |
|
|
defendant's commercial motor vehicle shall be based only on |
|
|
respondeat superior if the defendant stipulates, within the time |
|
|
provided by Section 72.052 for filing a motion to bifurcate, that, |
|
|
at the time of the collision, the person operating the vehicle was: |
|
|
(1) the defendant's employee; and |
|
|
(2) acting within the scope of employment. |
|
|
(b) If [Except as provided by Subsection (c), if] an |
|
|
employer defendant stipulates in accordance with Subsection (a) and |
|
|
the trial is bifurcated under Section 72.052, a claimant may not, in |
|
|
the first phase of the trial, present evidence on an ordinary |
|
|
negligence claim against the employer defendant, such as negligent |
|
|
entrustment, that requires a finding by the trier of fact that the |
|
|
employer defendant's employee was negligent in operating a vehicle |
|
|
as a prerequisite to the employer defendant being found negligent |
|
|
in relation to the employee defendant's operation of the vehicle. |
|
|
This subsection does not prevent a claimant from presenting |
|
|
evidence allowed by Section 72.053(b). |
|
|
SECTION 3. Sections 72.054(c), (d), and (e), Civil Practice |
|
|
and Remedies Code, are repealed. |
|
|
SECTION 4. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies |
|
|
only to an action: |
|
|
(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 the effective date of this |
|
|
Act. |
|
|
(b) In an action commenced before the effective date of this |
|
|
Act, a trial, new trial, or retrial that is in progress on the |
|
|
effective date of this Act is governed by the law applicable to the |
|
|
trial, new trial, or retrial immediately before the effective date |
|
|
of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose. |
|
|
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025. |