San Antonio Commercial Vehicle Accident Lawyer

House Bill 19 added Subchapter B to Chapter 72 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, effective September 1, 2021. It applies specifically to commercial motor vehicle collisions and it hands defendants two tools. The trial can be split in two. Under section 72.052, on a defendant’s motion the court must bifurcate. Phase one decides liability and compensatory damages. Phase two decides exemplary damages. The practical effect is that evidence about the company’s conduct, the safety record, the hiring decisions, the pattern, often stays out of the room while the jury decides fault and damages. The company can erase your direct claims. Under section 72.054, if the employer stipulates that the driver was acting within the scope of employment, its liability for ordinary negligence rests on respondeat superior alone. Negligent hiring, training, supervision, and entrustment drop out of the case. Companies do this deliberately, because those claims are where the ugly documents live. There is a deadline attached. The motion and the stipulation must come by the later of 120 days after the defendant’s original answer or 30 days after a new claim is added against it. None of this makes a case unwinnable. It means the case has to be built expecting both moves, with the gross negligence evidence developed and preserved for phase two rather than assumed into phase one. A commercial vehicle accident lawyer in San Antonio who has not adjusted to Chapter 72 will be surprised at the wrong moment.