BOTH LUCIOS SIDE WITH TRUCK COMPANIES VS. TEXAS VICTIMS

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Starting September 1 Texas motorists who are affected by crashes involving commercial vehicles causing bodily injury or death would find it harder to win damages from companies under companion bills passed by the 87th Legislative and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott.

As usual, Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. and his son, Texas State Rep Eddie Lucio III – who fit snugly into the insurance companies' pockets –  signed on to pass the bill in the House and its companion bill in the Texas Senate. 

Opponents said that HB 19 excuses truck and commercial vehicle driver fault for accident in all but the most extreme cases, virtually giving truck drivers a "get out of jail free" card. It also absolves the companies that employ these drivers from any independent compliance with federal or state safety regulations, like training or maintenance for their vehicles.

And SB 207 limits access to medical care for patients injured in these types of accidents by tying physician compensation to payment rates set by the government. This bill would limit an injured person's ability to pursue relief for medical bills and other costs associated with the crash.

Just as they gutted workman's compensation, pushed for repressive moralistic bills restricting a woman's right to choose, and have consistently been the lapdogs of out-of-state PACs and rolling over for the Republican majority in the Texas Legislature by Eddie Jr. voting to do away with the two-thirds rule in the Senate, both Lucios signed on for sponsorship and ended up voting for their respective bills.

Under the bills, the commercial motor vehicles include 18-wheelers, Uber and Lyft vehicles, delivery trucks and any other vehicle being used for commercial purposes. The bill’s sponsors say it will prevent excessive lawsuits against companies, while road safety advocates say the bill would make Texas’ already unsafe roads even more dangerous.

Under the House Bill (19) when a commercial vehicle owner or operator is sued after a crash, the driver would have to be proven liable in court before a case could be brought against their employer. That means a jury would not learn which company employed the driver unless the trial advanced to the second phase, when damages would be assessed.

The Texas Tribune cited Mary Rose, an assistant sociology professor at the University of Texas at Austin whose research focuses on the legal system, civil damage awards and citizens’ views of justice, said the proposal essentially would protect large corporations from some liability.

Rose cited a study by the Wisconsin Law Review that found that liability verdicts against companies may be lower in the type of trial outlined in the bill because jurors are generally more likely to find a corporation liable for damages than an individual driver.

For example, if a jury knew that a commercial vehicle driver who was involved in a serious crash worked for a large company like Amazon, Rose said, punitive damages likely would be higher because “if (Amazon) has more resources and is able to create a safer environment than a mom-and-pop store … they're almost held to this higher standard (by juries).”

The Texas Public Interest Research Group said Texas already has some of the most dangerous roads in the country because of high speed limits and high levels of traffic. In 2019, there were 1.26 deaths on Texas roads per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, and the national average was 1.1 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles.

These vehicles, often 20 times larger than an average car, cause thousands of accidents every year, with devastating consequences.

In 2019, Texas had more than 39,000 commercial vehicles crashes and 613 deaths, making Texas highways the most dangerous in the nation with the highest trucking crash injury death toll of any state in the U.S. (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.)

The bill passed in the House on June 16,  then the Senate followed suit (SB 207) in a 30-1 vote.
State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, who authored the bill, said it would protect commercial vehicle operators from “unjust and excessive lawsuits.” Leach said in the bill analysis that in the past decade, the number of lawsuits stemming from motor vehicle crashes in Texas has increased by 118 percent  while the number of crashes involving severe injury or death have decreased or only slightly increased.

“This bill installs a legal and procedural framework that will protect Texas businesses of all sizes from abuses in our justice system, from abuse of lawsuits that are threatening the very existence of many of our small businesses,” Leach said.