Hagenbuch Bill Limits Truck Crash Claims To The Driver’s Conduct

The text as introduced · 586 words

89R3699 SCL-F

By: Hagenbuch
S.B. No. 1135

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.