Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.002 · Subchapter A. WRONGFUL DEATH
CAUSE OF ACTION.
Text — Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
(a) An action for actual damages arising from an injury that causes an individual's death may be brought if liability exists under this section.
(b) A person is liable for damages arising from an injury that causes an individual's death if the injury was caused by the person's or his agent's or servant's wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default.
(c) A person is liable for damages arising from an injury that causes an individual's death if:
(1) the person is a proprietor, owner, charterer, or hirer of an industrial or public utility plant or of a railroad, street railway, steamboat, stagecoach, or other vehicle for the transportation of goods or passengers; and
(2) the injury was caused by the person's or his agent's or servant's wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default.
(d) A person is liable for damages arising from an injury that causes an individual's death if:
(1) the person is a receiver, trustee, or other person in charge of or in control of a railroad, street railway, steamboat, stagecoach, or other vehicle for the transportation of goods or passengers, of an industrial or public utility plant, or of other machinery; and
(2) the injury was caused by:
(A) the person's wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unskillfulness, or default;
(B) the person's servant's or agent's wrongful act, neglect, carelessness, unfitness, unskillfulness, or default; or
(C) a bad or unsafe condition of the railroad, street railway, or other machinery under the person's control or operation.
(e) A person is liable for damages arising from an injury that causes an individual's death if:
(1) the person is a receiver, trustee, or other person in charge of or in control of a railroad, street railway, steamboat, stagecoach, or other vehicle for the transportation of goods or passengers, of an industrial or public utility plant, or of other machinery; and
(2) the action could have been brought against the owner of the railroad, street railway, or other machinery if he had been acting as operator.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 959, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1985.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
- Official file
- https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.71.htm
- Text hash
- sha256 09f89582c766eeae214d1fc487098210c985edf88e1153926c018fa2e278c310
- Composed by
- compose_tx.py 2026-10-05: the Legislative Council's chapter files read in document order; verify_tx.py's independent reading (lxml DOM walk) agrees character for character
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.