Reform Austin
In a startling example of possible political cronyism, Rep. Jeff Leach (R-Allen) is introducing a bill that will protect truck drivers from litigation when they are involved in accidents. Leach’s day job? Protecting truck drivers from litigation when they are involved in accidents.
House Bill 19 is a complicated set of new legal parameters for civil suits involving trucking accidents. Briefly and in part, it makes evidence of a defendant’s failure to comply with standards and regulations inadmissible in court unless that failure is directly related to the incident under litigation.
In addition, previous records of failure to comply with regulations not related to the incident are also inadmissible, and lawyers wanting proof of such failures must submit a court order that cannot explore more than two years of history. This limits plaintiffs’ ability to establish a chain of general negligence, which can sway juries into believing the trucking company has a