Texas Health and Safety Code 712.009 – Limitations On Burials; Damages
(a) The Finance Commission of Texas shall adopt rules to administer and enforce this section.
(b) An individual, corporation, partnership, firm, trust, or association that operates or owns a perpetual care cemetery may not inter the remains of an individual who may have caused the death of another person if:
(1) the victim is interred in that cemetery; and
(2) the person having the right to control the disposition of the victim’s remains under Section 711.002(a) gives written notice to the cemetery requesting that the individual not be interred in that cemetery if:
(A) the individual was convicted under Section 19.02, 19.03, 19.05, or 49.08, Penal Code, for causing the death of the victim, or convicted under a similar statute of another state; or
(B) the individual was identified as causing the death of the victim, in violation of a provision described by Paragraph (A), by the medical examiner or law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the offense, and the individual dies before being convicted of the offense.
Terms Used In Texas Health and Safety Code 712.009
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
- Written: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures. See Texas Government Code 311.005
(c) An individual, corporation, partnership, firm, trust, or association that violates Subsection (b) is liable to the person having the right to control the disposition of the victim’s remains under Section 711.002(a) for:
(1) any actual damages incurred;
(2) punitive damages not to exceed $10,000; and
(3) reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs incurred in an effort to enforce compliance with Subsection (b).
(d) Damages under Subsection (c) may not be assessed if the individual, corporation, partnership, firm, trust, or association that operates the cemetery proves by a preponderance of the evidence that:
(1) the cemetery is the only cemetery serving the municipality or county in which the victim and individual causing the victim’s death lived; and
(2) the bodies of the victim and individual causing the victim’s death were placed as far apart as possible in, or in different parts of, the cemetery.
(e) An individual, corporation, partnership, firm, trust, or association operating or owning a perpetual care cemetery and barred from interring remains of an individual under this section may not be held liable for damages by a person having the right to control the disposition of the individual’s remains under Section 711.002(a), including damages for failure to provide for interment under a contract executed before the delivery of the written notice under Subsection (b)(2).
(f) A notice under Subsection (b)(2) expires seven years after the date the notice is delivered. A new notice may be delivered on the expiration of each previous notice.