89R3699 SCL-F
By: Birdwell S.B. No. 39
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.