Opinion ID: 1496754
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Due Course

Text: Article I, Section 19 of the Texas Constitution provides: No citizen of this state shall be deprived of life, liberty, property, privileges or immunities, or in any manner disfranchised, except by the due course of the law of the land. TEX. CONST. art. I, § 19. Article I, Section 19 and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution impose similar restrictions on the legislature. TEX. CONST. art. I, § 19; Lively v. Missouri K. & T. Ry. Co. of Texas, 102 Tex. 545, 120 S.W. 852 (1909); Mellinger v. City of Houston, 3 S.W. 249 (Tex.1887); Massachusetts Indem. & Life v. Tex. State Bd. of Ins., 685 S.W.2d 104 (Tex.App.- Austin 1985, no writ). The standard of review for constitutional challenges on substantive due process grounds for both the state and federal due process clauses is as follows: If the laws passed are seen to have a reasonable relation to a proper legislative purpose, and are neither arbitrary nor discriminatory, the requirements of due process are satisfied.... Nebbia v. New York, 291 U.S. 502, 537, 54 S.Ct. 505, 516, 78 L.Ed. 940 (1933). Accordingly, I would apply the following standard of review under Article I, Section 19 of the Texas Constitution: whether the medical caps in article 4590i bear a reasonable relation to a proper legislative purpose. Under this standard, I cannot say that the limitation of damages provisions violate Article I, Section 19 of our state constitution.