Thanks for the clarification guys. My class was in the first week of October, and the final version hadn't been published at the time... going back and reviewing the final version linked above, there were some significant changes we didn't learn about. Just another example of why this site is such a geat resource!
-KD
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Return to “Clarification on the Castle Doctrine”
- Mon Mar 03, 2008 9:18 pm
- Forum: General Texas CHL Discussion
- Topic: Clarification on the Castle Doctrine
- Replies: 12
- Views: 2840
- Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:10 pm
- Forum: General Texas CHL Discussion
- Topic: Clarification on the Castle Doctrine
- Replies: 12
- Views: 2840
Re: Clarification on the Castle Doctrine
First off, I'm not a lawyer, I'm just a dumb engineer, so my opinion doesn't really mean much...
That said, the way our instructor explained it to the class was this - you can still be sued in civil court, but "self defense" is an "affirmative defense" to civil liabilities for your actions. (Not sure how this works - is being no-billed by a grand jury, or not being brought to a grand jury enough, or do you need to tried and found not guilty, etc. - I guess this is what hasn't been tested...) Also, the civil statue was changed to entitles you to be reimbursed all attorney's fees and "other reasonable expenses" from the plaintifs if they loose the case - he suggested this is the change that will limit the BG / BG's family from filing suit, since it will likely limit the number of attorneys willing to take these type of cases.
Not sure if this is an accurate representation of the facts or not, but it was how it was explaned to us in our class last October.
-KD
That said, the way our instructor explained it to the class was this - you can still be sued in civil court, but "self defense" is an "affirmative defense" to civil liabilities for your actions. (Not sure how this works - is being no-billed by a grand jury, or not being brought to a grand jury enough, or do you need to tried and found not guilty, etc. - I guess this is what hasn't been tested...) Also, the civil statue was changed to entitles you to be reimbursed all attorney's fees and "other reasonable expenses" from the plaintifs if they loose the case - he suggested this is the change that will limit the BG / BG's family from filing suit, since it will likely limit the number of attorneys willing to take these type of cases.
Not sure if this is an accurate representation of the facts or not, but it was how it was explaned to us in our class last October.
-KD