By: Thompson of Brazoria H.B. No. 3834
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation of the criminal offense of barratry by a
public insurance adjuster.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. 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,
public insurance adjuster, as defined by Section 4102.001,
Insurance Code, or private investigator licensed to practice in
this state or any person licensed, certified, or registered by a
health care regulatory agency of this state; 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; or
(G) concerns a property damage insurance claim
and any such communication is made by a licensed public insurance
adjuster for any purpose other than:
(i) directly rendering the services of a
public insurance adjuster consistent with Section 4102.001,
Insurance Code; or
(ii) directly rendering the services of a
public insurance adjuster consistent with Section 4102.001,
Insurance Code, by another licensed public insurance adjuster
within the same business entity licensed under Sec. 4102.055,
Insurance Code.
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply 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 when 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 offense occurred before that date.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.