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Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.009

BIFURCATED TRIAL

Applied in 14 court decisions — leading case Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. v. Malone (1998)

Most recently applied in Bruce v. Cauthen (February 2017)

Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 19, Sec. 1, eff

How often courts cite this section

199820002010201730
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(a) On motion by a defendant, the court shall provide for a bifurcated trial under this section. A motion under this subsection shall be made prior to voir dire examination of the jury or at a time specified by a pretrial court order issued under Rule 166, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.

(b) In an action with more than one defendant, the court shall provide for a bifurcated trial on motion of any defendant.

(c) In the first phase of a bifurcated trial, the trier of fact shall determine:

(1) liability for compensatory and exemplary damages; and

(2) the amount of compensatory damages.

(d) If liability for exemplary damages is established during the first phase of a bifurcated trial, the trier of fact shall, in the second phase of the trial, determine the amount of exemplary damages to be awarded, if any.

Official source: Texas Constitution and Statutes. Reproduced from public-domain Texas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.