Sec. 145.003. PRESUMPTION OF NO NEGLIGENCE. (a) This section applies only to an action against an in-home service company or residential delivery company that:

(1) arises out of a criminal act or omission by an officer or employee of the company as to whom the company has obtained criminal history record information under Section 145.002(1);

(2) is brought by or on behalf of a person whose home the officer or employee entered while in the performance of the employee's job duties, without regard to where the criminal act or omission occurred; and

(3) seeks damages from the company for the negligent hiring of the officer or employee.

(b) In an action to which this section applies, an in-home service company or residential delivery company is rebuttably presumed to have not acted negligently if:

(1) at the time a person was hired, the company obtained criminal history record information regarding the officer or employee under Section 145.002(1); and

(2) the criminal history record information shows that, in the 20 years preceding the date the information was obtained for a felony or in the 10 years preceding the date the information was obtained for a Class A or Class B misdemeanor, the officer or employee had not been convicted of, or placed on deferred adjudication for:

(A) an offense in this state classified as:

(i) an offense against the person or the family;

(ii) an offense against property; or

(iii) public indecency; or

(B) an offense in another jurisdiction that would be classified in a category described by Paragraph (A) if the offense had occurred in this state.

(c) A residential delivery company or an in-home service company that sends two or more employees together into a residence shall be deemed to have complied with the requirement in Section 145.002 as long as at least one of those employees has been checked as described in Section 145.002 and, while they are in the residence, that employee accompanies and directly supervises any employee who has not been checked, and the residential delivery company or in-home service company maintains a record of the identity of any such nonchecked employee for at least two years.

Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 228, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.

Amended by:

Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 751 (S.B. 627), Sec. 4, eff. September 1, 2009.