Opinion ID: 1579863
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: retroactive application of statutory amendments

Text: The Texas Constitution states that [n]o bill of attainder, ex post facto law, retroactive law, or any law impairing the obligation of contracts, shall be made. Tex. Const. art. I, § 16. A retroactive law literally means a law that acts on things which are past. DeCordova v. City of Galveston, 4 Tex. 470, 475 (Tex.1849). However, not all statutes that apply retroactively are constitutionally prohibited. A retroactive statute only violates our Constitution if, when applied, it takes away or impairs vested rights acquired under existing law. Ex parte Abell, 613 S.W.2d 255, 260 (Tex.1981); McCain v. Yost, 155 Tex. 174, 284 S.W.2d 898, 900 (1955). A vested right is a property right, which the Constitution protects like any other property. Middleton v. Texas Power & Light Co., 108 Tex. 96, 185 S.W. 556, 560 (1916). However, [t]hat no one has a vested right in the continuance of present laws in relation to a particular subject, is a fundamental proposition; it is not open to challenge. The laws may be changed by the Legislature so long as they do not destroy or prevent an adequate enforcement of vested rights. There cannot be a vested right, or a property right, in a mere rule of law. Middleton, 185 S.W. at 560. Courts generally presume that the Legislature intends a statute or amendment to operate prospectively and not retroactively. Abell, 613 S.W.2d at 258; Blonstein v. Blonstein, 831 S.W.2d 468, 472 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1992, writ denied). However, this general rule does not apply when the statute or amendment is procedural or remedial. City of Tyler v. Likes, 962 S.W.2d 489, 502 (Tex.1997); Abell, 613 S.W.2d at 260; Phil H. Pierce Co. v. Watkins, 114 Tex. 153, 263 S.W. 905, 907 (1924); Blonstein, 831 S.W.2d at 472. This is because procedural and remedial statutes typically do not affect a vested right. Likes, 962 S.W.2d at 502; Abell, 613 S.W.2d at 260; Exxon Corp. v. Brecheen, 526 S.W.2d 519, 525 (Tex.1975); Watkins, 263 S.W. at 907; Blonstein, 831 S.W.2d at 472; see also Baker Hughes, Inc. v. Keco R & D, Inc., 12 S.W.3d 1, 4 (Tex.1999) (The rule is well settled that procedural statutes may apply to suits pending at the time they became effective, but even a procedural statute cannot be given application to a suit pending at the time it becomes effective if to do so would destroy or impair rights which had become vested before the act became effective.) (citations omitted). Similarly, the United States Supreme Court has held that a new statute conferring or ousting jurisdiction applies to existing suits because such laws typically do not affect substantive rights. Landgraf v. USI Film Prods., 511 U.S. 244, 274, 114 S.Ct. 1483 (1994). Instead, jurisdictional statutes speak to the court's power rather than to the parties' rights or obligations. Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 274, 114 S.Ct. 1483. And a jurisdictional statute usually does not take away substantive rights `but simply changes the tribunal that is to hear the case.' Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 274, 114 S.Ct. 1483 (quoting Hallowell v. Commons, 239 U.S. 506, 508, 36 S.Ct. 202, 60 L.Ed. 409 (1916)); see also Southwestern Bell Tel. Co. v. City of Kountze, 543 S.W.2d 871, 874-75 (Tex.Civ.App.-Beaumont 1976, no writ) (applying statute granting agency exclusive jurisdiction over claim pending on interlocutory appeal, and then requiring trial court to dismiss suit because the statute did not destroy the rights of plaintiff; it simply [took] away from the trial court the jurisdiction to adjudicate the question and confer[red] the exclusive jurisdiction upon another tribunal, namely, the regulatory commission.).