How Is Liability Determined in Texas for Car and Truck Accidents?

First of all, in a trucking or car collision case, of course, you have to prove that the party that you were suing was negligent or didn’t exercise care, ordinary care. So in order to do that, of course, you have to have evidence and you get that by gathering witness statements, photographs, videos, as much information as you can about the collision. And then once that is done, then of course you present that to the jury. What House Bill 19 did, and this is a bill that was passed by the Texas legislature in 2021. It went into effect in September 1st of 2021. It actually affected the way that plaintiffs can present their case at trial. A defendant, in other words, a person that would be the trucking company or the truck driver or both or multiple defendants that you are suing can ask for what is called a bifurcated trial, which means a two-part trial. And so you would be trying the case in two phases and the first part of the trial, you would be saying that the truck driver was negligent and asking for what’s called compensatory damages, in other words, those are the damages that you can quantify, for example, lost wages, past and future, your medical expenses, etc. So you have to get meet that bar in order to move to phase two of the trial, which would be if you’ve alleged gross negligence against the trucking company. At that point, then you would be able to, because you’ve proved negligence on the driver, you would be able to present evidence against the trucking company and you’re asking for exemplary or what’s known as punitive damages. So again, House Bill 19 can affect the amount of evidence that you’re allowed to present to the jury, which of course also affects your recovery. House Bill 19 has created some extra work for the lawyers, it put forth more procedural requirements. Requires a little more strategic thinking on the part of the lawyers as far as, when they’re going to present certain evidence. The cases can be divided in half, essentially into two trials by the defendants under House Bill 19, and the evidence is different under each of those trials. It’s made it a little, procedurally, more difficult for people that are representing plaintiffs. It shouldn’t discourage someone from bringing claim, though. From the practical standpoint of a plaintiff, it won’t make much difference. It does make a difference to us because we need to address it and we need to address it the way we address all claims for our plaintiffs in a way that maximizes their recovery and maximizes their ability, to, to make a, to get a positive jury verdict, and get a good outcome on their case.