In plain English
  • House Bill 19 (2021) added rules to Chapter 72 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code for lawsuits arising from crashes with commercial motor vehicles. It applies to cases filed on or after September 1, 2021.
  • A defendant can ask for a two-phase trial: first liability and compensatory damages, then exemplary (punitive) damages.
  • If the employer admits the driver was its employee acting in the course and scope of the job, some claims against the employer are limited in the first phase.

The bifurcated trial

On a timely motion by a defendant, the court must split the trial into two phases:

  1. Phase one: liability for, and the amount of, compensatory damages.
  2. Phase two: liability for, and the amount of, exemplary damages.

The motion generally has to be filed early in the case, within a set time after the defendant's answer.

When the employer stipulates

If the employer stipulates (formally admits) that the driver was its employee acting in the course and scope of employment, the employer is responsible for the driver's negligence under the ordinary employer-liability rule. In that situation, a claimant generally can't pursue ordinary negligence claims against the employer that depend on the driver's negligence, such as negligent hiring or negligent entrustment, in the first phase. Evidence about the employer's own conduct can still matter to exemplary damages in the second phase.

Evidence of regulation violations

In the first phase, evidence that a defendant failed to comply with a regulation or standard is generally admissible only if the violation was a proximate cause of the injury and the regulation applies to the conduct at issue. Broader evidence of a carrier's compliance history can be relevant in the second phase.

Photos and video

Chapter 72 also provides that properly authenticated photographs and video of the vehicles and the scene are admissible without expert testimony to explain them.

What this means in practice

  • Early decisions, such as whether the employer stipulates, shape what the jury hears first.
  • Proving how a specific violation caused the crash (for example, a brake defect or an hours-of-service violation) becomes more important.
  • Preserving crash evidence, including photos, video, ECM and ELD data, matters even more.

This is a summary of how the law is generally described. Read the official text of CPRC Chapter 72 at statutes.capitol.texas.gov and the HB 19 bill analysis. How courts apply these provisions continues to develop.