HBA-NRS H.B. 1905 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1905
By: Hinojosa
Civil Practices
3/27/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

The Civil Practice and Remedies Code and Rule 13 of the Texas Rules of
Civil Procedure establish sanctions and violations for liability for filing
bad faith or groundless claims. However, these laws are limited in scope
and only a court can impose them. Physicians' reputations have been ruined
by groundless or frivolous lawsuits leading to the possibility of these
physicians losing their practices with little or no compensation for the
damage such lawsuits inflict. House Bill 1905 authorizes a cause of action
when a health care liability claim is brought with a reckless disregard as
to whether reasonable grounds exist to bring the lawsuit.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1905 amends the Medical Liability and Insurance Improvement Act
of Texas to authorize a person to bring a cause of action that a health
care liability claim (claim) is brought in bad faith if the claim is
maintained or filed with reckless disregard as to whether or not reasonable
grounds exist for asserting the claim. The bill authorizes a person to
bring the cause of action as a separate suit or as a counterclaim involving
the claim. The bill requires a person or the person's agent bringing a
cause of action that a claim is brought in bad faith to give written notice
asserting the claim to the party or the party's attorney if the person is
bringing the cause of action as a separate suit, before the 60th day before
the date of the suit is filed, or if the person is bringing the cause of
action as a counterclaim, before the 30th day before the date the trail of
the claim begins. The bill authorizes a cause of action that a claim is
brought in bad faith to be brought against any claimant or defendant or the
attorney or any claimant or defendant. The bill authorizes separate suits
to be brought in the county where the claim was brought or in a district
court in Travis County.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001.