PJC General Negligence 2022

PJC 4.2

B ASIC N EGLIGENCE Q UESTIONS

Malice as a ground for exemplary damages. Malice is also a ground for recov ery of exemplary damages. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.003(a)(2). As a predi cate for recovery of exemplary damages, the following instruction should be given: “Malice” means a specific intent by Don Davis to cause substan tial injury or harm to Paul Payne . See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.001(7) . Source of question and instructions. PJC 4.2 is for use in all cases filed on or after September 1, 2003. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§41.001(7), (11), 41.003(a), (d), 41.004(a); Tex. R. Civ. P. 226a. Actions involving commercial motor vehicles—filed on or after September 1, 2021. On September 1, 2021, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code chapter 72, subchapter B, “Actions Regarding Commercial Motor Vehicles” (“the Statute”), became effective and applies to certain claims described and defined by the Statute. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§72.051–.055. If a case is bifurcated pursuant to Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §72.052, PJC 4.2 is to be submitted during the second phase of trial. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §72.052(d), (e). If the basis for pro ceeding to the second phase of the trial is a finding that an employee defendant was negligent in operating an employer defendant’s commercial motor vehicle, the com mittee believes the predicating instruction paragraph below should be omitted: Answer the following question regarding Don Davis only if you unanimously answered “Yes” to Question ______ [ 4.1 or other applicable liability question ] regarding Don Davis . Otherwise, do not answer the following question regarding Don Davis . See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 72.052(e). However, the above predicating instruc tion should continue to be used when the basis for a gross negligence claim against the employer is a finding of ordinary negligence against that employer. Caveats. The committee expresses no opinion for reconciling conflicts, if any, between Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §72.052 and Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §41.009.

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