TexasCHLforum.com

It is not possible to pass a statute that precludes someone from filing a suit. That would be unconstitutional. You have to prove your entitlement to civil damage immunity and this must be done in court. The State enjoys "sovereign immunity" which means you cannot recover damages from the State, but that doesn't prevent the suit from being filed. It does mean the State is going to win a summary judgment early in the process, not after a lengthy and expensive pre-trial discovery period. (The Texas Tort Claims Act waives sovereign immunity to a very limited extent allowing some suits to be filed.)

As a practical matter, no attorney is going to take a case he has no chance to win, unless it's for a political reason and that rarely happens. With SB378, a summary judgment would be filed and granted early on, so suits against a person justifiably using deadly force would not have much political value either.

Chas.