By: Leach, Ashby, Meyer, et al. H.B. No. 19
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to civil liability of a commercial motor vehicle owner or
operator, including the effect that changes to that liability have
on commercial automobile insurance.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Chapter 72, Civil Practice and
Remedies Code, is amended to read as follows:
CHAPTER 72. LIABILITY OF MOTOR VEHICLE OWNER OR OPERATOR [TO GUEST]
SECTION 2. Chapter 72, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
amended by adding Subchapter A, and a heading is added to that
subchapter to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER A. LIABILITY TO GUEST
SECTION 3. Sections 72.001, 72.002, 72.003, and 72.004,
Civil Practice and Remedies Code, are transferred to Subchapter A,
Chapter 72, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 4. Sections 72.002 and 72.003, Civil Practice and
Remedies Code, are amended to read as follows:
Sec. 72.002. LIMITATION NOT APPLICABLE. There is no
limitation under this subchapter [chapter] on the liability of an
owner or operator who is not related to the guest within the second
degree by consanguinity or affinity.
Sec. 72.003. EFFECT ON OTHER LIABILITY. (a) This
subchapter [chapter] does not affect judicially developed or
developing rules under which a person is or is not totally or
partially immune from tort liability by virtue of family
relationship.
(b) This subchapter [chapter] does not relieve the owner or
operator of a motor vehicle being demonstrated to a prospective
purchaser or relieve a public carrier of responsibility for
injuries sustained by a passenger being transported.
SECTION 5. Chapter 72, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
amended by adding Subchapter B to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER B. ACTIONS REGARDING COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLES
Sec. 72.051. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Accident" means an event in which operating a
commercial motor vehicle causes bodily injury or death.
(2) "Civil action" means an action in which:
(A) a claimant seeks recovery of damages for
bodily injury or death caused in an accident; and
(B) a defendant:
(i) operated a commercial motor vehicle
involved in the accident; or
(ii) owned, leased, or otherwise held or
exercised legal control over a commercial motor vehicle or operator
of a commercial motor vehicle involved in the accident.
(3) "Claimant" means a person, including a decedent's
estate, seeking or who has sought recovery of damages in a civil
action. The term includes a plaintiff, counterclaimant,
cross-claimant, third-party plaintiff, and an intervenor. The term
does not include a passenger in a commercial motor vehicle unless
the person is an employee of the owner, lessor, lessee, or operator
of the vehicle.
(4) "Commercial motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle
being used for commercial purposes in interstate or intrastate
commerce to transport property or passengers, deliver or transport
goods, or provide services. The term does not include a motor
vehicle being used at the time of the accident for personal, family,
or household purposes.
(5) "Compensatory damages" has the meaning assigned by
Section 41.001.
(6) "Employee" means a person who works for another
person for compensation. The term includes a person considered to
be an employee under state or federal law and any other agent or
person for whom an employer may be liable under respondeat
superior.
(7) "Exemplary damages" has the meaning assigned by
Section 41.001.
(8) "Motor vehicle" means a self-propelled device in
which a person or property can be transported on a public highway.
The term includes a trailer when in use with a self-propelled device
described by this subdivision. The term does not include a device
used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
(9) "Operated," "operating," and "operation," when
used with respect to a commercial motor vehicle, means to cause the
vehicle to move or function in any respect, including driving,
stopping, or parking the vehicle or otherwise putting the vehicle
into use or operation. These terms include a commercial motor
vehicle that has become disabled.
(10) "Video" means an electronic representation of a
sequence of images, with or without accompanying audio, depicting
either stationary or moving scenes, regardless of the manner in
which the sequence of images is captured, recorded, or stored.
Sec. 72.052. BIFURCATED TRIAL IN CERTAIN COMMERCIAL MOTOR
VEHICLE ACCIDENT ACTIONS. (a) In a civil action under this
subchapter, on motion by a defendant, the court shall provide for a
bifurcated trial under this section.
(b) A motion under this section shall be made on or before
the later of:
(1) the 120th day after the date the defendant
bringing the motion files the defendant's original answer; or
(2) the 30th day after the date a claimant files a
pleading adding a claim or cause of action against the defendant
bringing the motion.
(c) The trier of fact shall determine liability for and the
amount of compensatory damages in the first phase of a bifurcated
trial under this section.
(d) The trier of fact shall determine liability for and the
amount of exemplary damages in the second phase of a bifurcated
trial under this section.
(e) For purposes of this section, a finding by the trier of
fact in the first phase of a bifurcated trial that an employee
defendant was negligent in operating an employer defendant's
commercial motor vehicle may serve as a basis for the claimant to
proceed in the second phase of the trial on a claim against the
employer defendant, such as negligent entrustment, that requires a
finding by the trier of fact that the employee was negligent in
operating the vehicle as a prerequisite to the employer defendant
being found negligent in relation to the employee defendant's
operation of the vehicle.
Sec. 72.053. FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH REGULATIONS OR
STANDARDS. (a) In this section, "regulation or standard" includes
a statute, regulation, rule, or order regulating equipment or
conduct adopted or promulgated by 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, 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.
(c) Nothing in this section prevents a claimant from
pursuing a claim for exemplary damages under Chapter 41 relating to
the defendant's failure to comply with other applicable regulations
or standards, or from presenting evidence on that claim in the
second phase of a bifurcated trial.
Sec. 72.054. LIABILITY FOR EMPLOYEE NEGLIGENCE IN OPERATING
COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE. (a) 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 that, at the time of the accident, the person operating
the vehicle was:
(1) the defendant's employee; and
(2) acting within the scope of employment.
(b) 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.
(c) In regard to an employer defendant who is regulated by
the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 (Pub. L. No.
106-159) or Chapter 644, Transportation Code, and the defendant's
employee, a party may present any of the following evidence in the
first phase of a trial that is bifurcated under Section 72.052 if
the evidence is applicable to the defendant:
(1) whether the employee who was operating the
employer defendant's commercial motor vehicle at the time of the
accident that is the subject of the civil action:
(A) was licensed to drive the vehicle;
(B) was disqualified from driving the vehicle
under 49 C.F.R. Section 391.15 or the corresponding law of this
state;
(C) should not have been allowed by the employer
defendant to operate the vehicle under 49 C.F.R. Section 382.701(d)
or the corresponding law of this state;
(D) was medically certified as physically
qualified to operate the vehicle under 49 C.F.R. Section 391.41 or a
corresponding law of this state; or
(E) was operating the vehicle when prohibited
from doing so under 49 C.F.R. Section 382.201, 382.205, 382.207, or
382.215 or the corresponding law of this state;
(2) whether the employer defendant had complied with
49 C.F.R. Section 382.301 or a corresponding law of this state in
regard to controlled-substance testing of the employee who was
operating the employer's commercial motor vehicle at the time of
the accident that is the subject of the civil action if the employee
was impaired because of the use of a controlled substance at the
time of the accident;
(3) whether the employer defendant failed to comply
with 49 C.F.R. Section 382.201, 382.205, 382.207, 382.215,
382.701(d), 390.13, 391.15, 391.21, 391.23(a), 391.25, 391.31,
391.33, 391.41, or 383.51 or the corresponding law of this state;
and
(4) whether the employer defendant failed to comply
with 49 C.F.R. Section 395.3 or 395.5 or a corresponding law of this
state if the employer defendant had knowledge of the failure to
comply at the time of the accident that is the subject of the civil
action.
(d) If a civil action is bifurcated under Section 72.052,
evidence admissible under Subsection (c) is:
(1) admissible in the first phase of the trial only to
prove ordinary negligent entrustment by the employer defendant to
the employee who was driving the employer defendant's commercial
motor vehicle at the time of the accident that is the subject of the
civil action; and
(2) the only evidence that may be presented by the
claimant in the first phase of the trial on the negligent
entrustment claim.
(e) Nothing in this section may be construed to create a new
rule or regulation or subject a person to a rule or regulation not
applicable to the person without regard to this section.
(f) Nothing in this section prevents a claimant from
pursuing:
(1) an ordinary negligence claim against an employer
defendant for a claim, such as negligent maintenance, that does not
require a finding of negligence by an employee as a prerequisite to
an employer defendant being found negligent for its conduct or
omission, or from presenting evidence on that claim in the first
phase of a bifurcated trial; or
(2) a claim for exemplary damages under Chapter 41 for
an employer defendant's conduct or omissions in relation to the
accident that is the subject of the action, or from presenting
evidence on that claim in the second phase of a bifurcated trial.
Sec. 72.055. ADMISSIBILITY OF VISUAL DEPICTIONS OF
ACCIDENT. (a) In a civil action under this subchapter, a court may
not require expert testimony for admission into evidence of a
photograph or video of a vehicle or object involved in an accident
that is the subject of the action.
(b) If properly authenticated under the Texas Rules of
Evidence, a photograph or video of a vehicle or object involved in
an accident that is the subject of a civil action under this
subchapter is presumed admissible, even if the photograph or video
tends to support or refute an assertion regarding the severity of
damages or injury to an object or person involved in the accident.
SECTION 6. Subchapter A, Chapter 38, Insurance Code, is
amended by adding Section 38.005 to read as follows:
Sec. 38.005. COMMERCIAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE REPORT. (a)
The department shall conduct a study each biennium on the effect,
for each year of the biennium, on premiums, deductibles, coverage,
and availability of coverage for commercial automobile insurance of
H.B. 19, 87th Legislature, Regular Session, 2021.
(b) Not later than December 1 of each even-numbered year,
the department shall submit a written report of the results of the
study conducted under Subsection (a) for the preceding biennium to
the legislature.
(c) This section expires December 31, 2026.
SECTION 7. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
an action commenced on or after the effective date of this Act. An
action commenced before the effective date of this Act is governed
by the law applicable to the action immediately before the
effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for
that purpose.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.