Texas Transportation Code 550.081 – Report of Medical Examiner or Justice of the Peace
(a) In this section:
(1) “Department” means the Texas Department of Transportation.
(2) “Bridge collapse” means the abrupt failure of the basic structure of a bridge that impairs the ability of the bridge to serve its intended purpose and that damages a highway located on or under the structure.
(b) A medical examiner or justice of the peace acting as coroner in a county that does not have a medical examiner’s office or that is not part of a medical examiner’s district shall submit a report in writing to the department of the death of a person that was the result of a traffic collision or bridge collapse:
(1) to which this chapter applies; and
(2) that occurred within the jurisdiction of the medical examiner or justice of the peace in the preceding calendar quarter.
Terms Used In Texas Transportation Code 550.081
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by writing, printing, or other means. See Texas Government Code 312.011
- 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.
- Justice: when applied to a magistrate, means justice of the peace. See Texas Government Code 312.011
- Month: means a calendar month. See Texas Government Code 312.011
- 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
(c) The report must be submitted before the 11th day of each calendar month and include:
(1) the name of the deceased and a statement as to whether the deceased was:
(A) the operator of or a passenger in a vehicle; or
(B) a pedestrian or other nonoccupant of a vehicle;
(2) the date of the collision and the name of the county in which the collision occurred, and, if a bridge collapse, the location of the bridge in that county;
(3) the name of any laboratory, medical examiner’s office, or other facility that conducted toxicological testing relative to the deceased; and
(4) the results of any toxicological testing that was conducted.
(d) A report required by this section shall be sent to:
(1) the crash records bureau of the department at its headquarters in Austin; or
(2) any other office or bureau of the department that the department designates.
(e) If toxicological test results are not available to the medical examiner or justice of the peace on the date a report must be submitted, the medical examiner or justice shall:
(1) submit a report that includes the statement “toxicological test results unavailable”; and
(2) submit a supplement to the report that contains the information required by Subsections (c)(3) and (4) as soon as practicable after the toxicological test results become available.
(f) The department shall prepare and when requested supply to medical examiners’ offices and justices of the peace the forms necessary to make the reports required by this section.