Bill Text: TX HB1759 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to a correction, clarification, or retraction of incorrect information published.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2013-06-14 - Effective immediately [HB1759 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HB1759-Enrolled.html
| H.B. No. 1759 | ||
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| relating to a correction, clarification, or retraction of incorrect | ||
| information published. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Chapter 73, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is | ||
| amended by designating Sections 73.001 through 73.006 as Subchapter | ||
| A and adding a subchapter heading to read as follows: | ||
| SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS | ||
| SECTION 2. Chapter 73, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Subchapter B to read as follows: | ||
| SUBCHAPTER B. CORRECTION, CLARIFICATION, OR RETRACTION BY | ||
| PUBLISHER | ||
| Sec. 73.051. SHORT TITLE. This subchapter may be cited as | ||
| the Defamation Mitigation Act. This subchapter shall be liberally | ||
| construed. | ||
| Sec. 73.052. PURPOSE. The purpose of this subchapter is to | ||
| provide a method for a person who has been defamed by a publication | ||
| or broadcast to mitigate any perceived damage or injury. | ||
| Sec. 73.053. DEFINITION. In this subchapter, "person" | ||
| means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, | ||
| partnership, association, joint venture, or other legal or | ||
| commercial entity. The term does not include a government or | ||
| governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality. | ||
| Sec. 73.054. APPLICABILITY. (a) This subchapter applies | ||
| to a claim for relief, however characterized, from damages arising | ||
| out of harm to personal reputation caused by the false content of a | ||
| publication. | ||
| (b) This subchapter applies to all publications, including | ||
| writings, broadcasts, oral communications, electronic | ||
| transmissions, or other forms of transmitting information. | ||
| Sec. 73.055. REQUEST FOR CORRECTION, CLARIFICATION, OR | ||
| RETRACTION. (a) A person may maintain an action for defamation | ||
| only if: | ||
| (1) the person has made a timely and sufficient | ||
| request for a correction, clarification, or retraction from the | ||
| defendant; or | ||
| (2) the defendant has made a correction, | ||
| clarification, or retraction. | ||
| (b) A request for a correction, clarification, or | ||
| retraction is timely if made during the period of limitation for | ||
| commencement of an action for defamation. | ||
| (c) If not later than the 90th day after receiving knowledge | ||
| of the publication, the person does not request a correction, | ||
| clarification, or retraction, the person may not recover exemplary | ||
| damages. | ||
| (d) A request for a correction, clarification, or | ||
| retraction is sufficient if it: | ||
| (1) is served on the publisher; | ||
| (2) is made in writing, reasonably identifies the | ||
| person making the request, and is signed by the individual claiming | ||
| to have been defamed or by the person's authorized attorney or | ||
| agent; | ||
| (3) states with particularity the statement alleged to | ||
| be false and defamatory and, to the extent known, the time and place | ||
| of publication; | ||
| (4) alleges the defamatory meaning of the statement; | ||
| and | ||
| (5) specifies the circumstances causing a defamatory | ||
| meaning of the statement if it arises from something other than the | ||
| express language of the publication. | ||
| (e) A period of limitation for commencement of an action | ||
| under this section is tolled during the period allowed by Sections | ||
| 73.056 and 73.057. | ||
| Sec. 73.056. DISCLOSURE OF EVIDENCE OF FALSITY. (a) A | ||
| person who has been requested to make a correction, clarification, | ||
| or retraction may ask the person making the request to provide | ||
| reasonably available information regarding the falsity of the | ||
| allegedly defamatory statement not later than the 30th day after | ||
| the date the person receives the request. Any information | ||
| requested under this section must be provided by the person seeking | ||
| the correction, clarification, or retraction not later than the | ||
| 30th day after the date the person receives the request. | ||
| (b) If a correction, clarification, or retraction is not | ||
| made, a person who, without good cause, fails to disclose the | ||
| information requested under Subsection (a) may not recover | ||
| exemplary damages, unless the publication was made with actual | ||
| malice. | ||
| Sec. 73.057. TIMELY AND SUFFICIENT CORRECTION, | ||
| CLARIFICATION, OR RETRACTION. (a) A correction, clarification, or | ||
| retraction is timely if it is made not later than the 30th day after | ||
| receipt of: | ||
| (1) the request for the correction, clarification, or | ||
| retraction; or | ||
| (2) the information requested under Section | ||
| 73.056(a). | ||
| (b) A correction, clarification, or retraction is | ||
| sufficient if it is published in the same manner and medium as the | ||
| original publication or, if that is not possible, with a prominence | ||
| and in a manner and medium reasonably likely to reach substantially | ||
| the same audience as the publication complained of and: | ||
| (1) is publication of an acknowledgment that the | ||
| statement specified as false and defamatory is erroneous; | ||
| (2) is an allegation that the defamatory meaning | ||
| arises from other than the express language of the publication and | ||
| the publisher disclaims an intent to communicate that meaning or to | ||
| assert its truth; | ||
| (3) is a statement attributed to another person whom | ||
| the publisher identifies and the publisher disclaims an intent to | ||
| assert the truth of the statement; or | ||
| (4) is publication of the requestor's statement of the | ||
| facts, as set forth in a request for correction, clarification, or | ||
| retraction, or a fair summary of the statement, exclusive of any | ||
| portion that is defamatory of another, obscene, or otherwise | ||
| improper for publication. | ||
| (c) If a request for correction, clarification, or | ||
| retraction has specified two or more statements as false and | ||
| defamatory, the correction, clarification, or retraction may deal | ||
| with the statements individually in any manner provided by | ||
| Subsection (b). | ||
| (d) Except as provided by Subsection (e), a correction, | ||
| clarification, or retraction is published with a prominence and in | ||
| a manner and medium reasonably likely to reach substantially the | ||
| same audience as the publication complained of if: | ||
| (1) it is published in a later issue, edition, or | ||
| broadcast of the original publication; | ||
| (2) publication is in the next practicable issue, | ||
| edition, or broadcast of the original publication because the | ||
| publication will not be published within the time limits | ||
| established for a timely correction, clarification, or retraction; | ||
| or | ||
| (3) the original publication no longer exists and if | ||
| the correction, clarification, or retraction is published in the | ||
| newspaper with the largest general circulation in the region in | ||
| which the original publication was distributed. | ||
| (e) If the original publication was on the Internet, a | ||
| correction, clarification, or retraction is published with a | ||
| prominence and in a manner and medium reasonably likely to reach | ||
| substantially the same audience as the publication complained of if | ||
| the publisher appends to the original publication the correction, | ||
| clarification, or retraction. | ||
| Sec. 73.058. CHALLENGES TO CORRECTION, CLARIFICATION, OR | ||
| RETRACTION OR TO REQUEST FOR CORRECTION, CLARIFICATION, OR | ||
| RETRACTION. (a) If a defendant in an action under this subchapter | ||
| intends to rely on a timely and sufficient correction, | ||
| clarification, or retraction, the defendant's intention to do so, | ||
| and the correction, clarification, or retraction relied on, must be | ||
| stated in a notice served on the plaintiff on the later of: | ||
| (1) the 60th day after service of the citation; or | ||
| (2) the 10th day after the date the correction, | ||
| clarification, or retraction is made. | ||
| (b) A correction, clarification, or retraction is timely | ||
| and sufficient unless the plaintiff challenges the timeliness or | ||
| sufficiency not later than the 20th day after the date notice under | ||
| Subsection (a) is served. If a plaintiff challenges the timeliness | ||
| or sufficiency, the plaintiff must state the challenge in a motion | ||
| to declare the correction, clarification, or retraction untimely or | ||
| insufficient served not later than the 30th day after the date | ||
| notice under Subsection (a) is served on the plaintiff or the 30th | ||
| day after the date the correction, clarification, or retraction is | ||
| made, whichever is later. | ||
| (c) If a defendant intends to challenge the sufficiency or | ||
| timeliness of a request for a correction, clarification, or | ||
| retraction, the defendant must state the challenge in a motion to | ||
| declare the request insufficient or untimely served not later than | ||
| the 60th day after the date of service of the citation. | ||
| (d) Unless there is a reasonable dispute regarding the | ||
| actual contents of the request for correction, clarification, or | ||
| retraction, the sufficiency and timeliness of a request for | ||
| correction, clarification, or retraction is a question of law. At | ||
| the earliest appropriate time before trial, the court shall rule, | ||
| as a matter of law, whether the request for correction, | ||
| clarification, or retraction meets the requirements of this | ||
| subchapter. | ||
| Sec. 73.059. EFFECT OF CORRECTION, CLARIFICATION, OR | ||
| RETRACTION. If a correction, clarification, or retraction is made | ||
| in accordance with this subchapter, regardless of whether the | ||
| person claiming harm made a request, a person may not recover | ||
| exemplary damages unless the publication was made with actual | ||
| malice. | ||
| Sec. 73.060. SCOPE OF PROTECTION. A timely and sufficient | ||
| correction, clarification, or retraction made by a person | ||
| responsible for a publication constitutes a correction, | ||
| clarification, or retraction made by all persons responsible for | ||
| that publication but does not extend to an entity that republished | ||
| the information. | ||
| Sec. 73.061. ADMISSIBILITY OF EVIDENCE OF CORRECTION, | ||
| CLARIFICATION, OR RETRACTION. (a) A request for a correction, | ||
| clarification, or retraction, the contents of the request, and the | ||
| acceptance or refusal of the request are not admissible evidence at | ||
| a trial. | ||
| (b) The fact that a correction, clarification, or | ||
| retraction was made and the contents of the correction, | ||
| clarification, or retraction are not admissible in evidence at | ||
| trial except in mitigation of damages under Section 73.003(a)(3). | ||
| If a correction, clarification, or retraction is received into | ||
| evidence, the request for the correction, clarification, or | ||
| retraction may also be received into evidence. | ||
| (c) The fact that an offer of a correction, clarification, | ||
| or retraction was made and the contents of the offer, and the fact | ||
| that the correction, clarification, or retraction was refused, are | ||
| not admissible in evidence at trial. | ||
| Sec. 73.062. ABATEMENT. (a) A person against whom a suit | ||
| is pending who does not receive a written request for a correction, | ||
| clarification, or retraction, as required by Section 73.055, may | ||
| file a plea in abatement not later than the 30th day after the date | ||
| the person files an original answer in the court in which the suit | ||
| is pending. | ||
| (b) A suit is automatically abated, in its entirety, without | ||
| the order of the court, beginning on the 11th day after the date a | ||
| plea in abatement is filed under Subsection (a) if the plea in | ||
| abatement: | ||
| (1) is verified and alleges that the person against | ||
| whom the suit is pending did not receive the written request as | ||
| required by Section 73.055; and | ||
| (2) is not controverted in an affidavit filed by the | ||
| person bringing the claim before the 11th day after the date on | ||
| which the plea in abatement is filed. | ||
| (c) An abatement under Subsection (b) continues until the | ||
| 60th day after the date that the written request is served or a | ||
| later date agreed to by the parties. If a controverting affidavit | ||
| is filed under Subsection (b)(2), a hearing on the plea in abatement | ||
| will take place as soon as practical considering the court's | ||
| docket. | ||
| (d) All statutory and judicial deadlines under the Texas | ||
| Rules of Civil Procedure relating to a suit abated under Subsection | ||
| (b), other than those provided in this section, will be stayed | ||
| during the pendency of the abatement period under this section. | ||
| SECTION 3. This Act applies only to information published | ||
| on or after the effective date of this Act. Information published | ||
| before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in | ||
| effect when the information was published, and the former law is | ||
| continued in effect for that purpose. | ||
| SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
| a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
| provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
| Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
| Act takes effect September 1, 2013. | ||
| ______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
| President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
| I certify that H.B. No. 1759 was passed by the House on May 2, | ||
| 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 0, 2 present, not | ||
| voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B. | ||
| No. 1759 on May 22, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 148, Nays 0, | ||
| 2 present, not voting. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Chief Clerk of the House | ||
| I certify that H.B. No. 1759 was passed by the Senate, with | ||
| amendments, on May 20, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays | ||
| 0. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Secretary of the Senate | ||
| APPROVED: __________________ | ||
| Date | ||
| __________________ | ||
| Governor | ||
