By: Walle H.B. No. 3353
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the offense of barratry and solicitation of
professional employment.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 4102.151, Insurance Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 4102.151. SOLICITATION PROHIBITED [DURING NATURAL
DISASTER]. A license holder may not solicit or attempt to solicit a
client for employment [during the progress of a loss-producing
natural disaster occurrence].
SECTION 2. Section 4102.152, Insurance Code, is repealed.
SECTION 3. Section 38.12(d), Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(d) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) is an attorney, chiropractor, physician, surgeon,
[or] private investigator, or public insurance adjuster licensed to
practice in this state, or any person licensed, certified, or
registered by a health care regulatory agency of this state, or any
vendor or agent for or representative of an insurance company
authorized to engage in the business of automobile or other
property and casualty insurance in this state who discusses the
settlement or evaluation of a casualty claim or the casualty
portion of a claim; and
(2) with the intent to obtain professional employment
for the person or for another, provides or knowingly permits to be
provided to an individual who has not sought the person's
employment, legal representation, advice, or care a written
communication or a solicitation, including a solicitation in person
or by telephone, that:
(A) concerns an action for personal injury or
wrongful death or otherwise relates to an accident or disaster
involving the person to whom the communication or solicitation is
provided or a relative of that person and that was provided before
the 31st day after the date on which the accident or disaster
occurred;
(B) concerns a specific matter and relates to legal
representation and the person knows or reasonably should know that
the person to whom the communication or solicitation is directed is
represented by a lawyer in the matter;
(C) concerns a lawsuit of any kind, including an
action for divorce, in which the person to whom the communication or
solicitation is provided is a defendant or a relative of that
person, unless the lawsuit in which the person is named as a
defendant has been on file for more than 31 days before the date on
which the communication or solicitation was provided;
(D) is provided or permitted to be provided by a
person who knows or reasonably should know that the injured person
or relative of the injured person has indicated a desire not to be
contacted by or receive communications or solicitations concerning
employment;
(E) involves coercion, duress, fraud, overreaching,
harassment, intimidation, or undue influence; or
(F) contains a false, fraudulent, misleading,
deceptive, or unfair statement or claim.
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect at the time the offense was committed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
effective date of this Act if any element of the of
fense occurred
before that date.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.