By: Landgraf H.B. No. 3697
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a study by the Texas Department of Insurance to research
and evaluate claims data and the recovery of attorney's fees in
first-party insurance claims.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The Texas Department of Insurance shall conduct
a study to research and evaluate claims data made in the past five
years to compare and establish an understanding between first party
claims made, legal actions filed by claimants to recover damages,
and complaints made by claimants to the Department, if there is any.
The study shall also include a discussion from various stakeholders
in an effort to more broadly comprehend the issues and provide for
the legislature an inclusive report. The Department shall utilize
the resources necessary to achieve this directive and publish and
distribute a copy of this report to the Governor of Texas, Speaker
of the House, and Lieutenant Governor no later than January 1, 2016.
SECTION 2. Section 542.062, Insurance Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) In any lawsuit arising out of an insurance claim,
whether commercial, property and casualty, automobile, life, or
health, and where attorneys' fees are recoverable, a claimant is
entitled to recover reasonable and necessary attorneys' fees which
shall not be more than the amount of economic damages to which the
claimant is legally entitled to recover. This provision applies to
any and all causes of action asserted by the claimant whether by
statute or common law.
(b) JUSTICE COURT CASES.
This section does not apply to any
lawsuit arising out of an insurance claim filed in Justice Court in
Texas. Such a lawsuit will be treated as a Small Claims Case, as
defined.
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a cause of action that accrues on or after the effective date of
this Act. A cause of action that accrues before the effective date
of this Act is governed by the law applicable to the cause of action
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, 2015.