PJC General Negligence 2022

I NTENTIONAL P ERSONAL T ORTS

PJC 6.4

Dispute about procurement or initiation. In some situations there is a dispute about the procurement or initiation of the criminal prosecution. In the case of a dispute about “procurement,” the following instruction may be used: A person procures a criminal prosecution if his actions were enough to cause the prosecution, and but for his actions the prosecu tion would not have occurred. A person does not procure a criminal prosecution when the decision whether to prosecute is left to the dis cretion of another, including a law enforcement official or the grand jury, unless the person fails to fully and fairly disclose all material information known to him or knowingly provides false information. A criminal prosecution may be procured by more than one person. King v. Graham , 126 S.W.3d 75, 77 (Tex. 2003); Browning-Ferris Industries, Inc. v. Lieck , 881 S.W.2d 288, 293 (Tex. 1994). “Initiation would not ordinarily need to be defined, as it would be demonstrated by evidence that defendant filed formal charges against plaintiff . . . .” Lieck , 881 S.W.2d at 293. Exemplary damages. For causes of action accruing on or after September 1, 1995, a separate issue for exemplary damages must be submitted because of the bur den of proof requirements for exemplary damages that were created by the 1995 amendment to chapter 41 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Further, for actions filed on or after September 1, 2003, the separate submission for exemplary damages must also account for the unanimity requirement created by the 2003 amend ments to chapter 41. See PJC 4.2. The practitioner should be aware, however, that there is otherwise little guidance in the case law for submissions in this area.

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