§ 147.004.Applicability

Three exclusions, and the first is a deliberate limit on how far the protections reach.

The chapter does not apply to an action: (1) for death or bodily injury; (2) to collect workers’ compensation benefits; or (3) to enforce the terms of a written agreement, or to seek contractual remedies for breach of one, that specifically provides for liability and damages for a computer date failure.

The death and bodily injury exclusion is the significant one. The chapter caps damages, requires notice, supplies affirmative defences and imposes repose — and none of that applies where someone was killed or hurt.

That was a real concern rather than a theoretical one. Embedded systems ran medical devices, lifts, and industrial controls, and a legislature limiting liability for economic loss was not prepared to do the same for physical harm.

Such a claim proceeds under ordinary tort and products law, with the products liability chapter and the general limitations periods applying instead.

The third exclusion respects a bargain the parties struck for themselves. Where a written agreement specifically provides for liability and damages for a date failure, the parties allocated that risk themselves and the chapter stands aside.

"Specifically" is the condition. A general limitation of liability clause is not enough; the agreement must address computer date failure.

Many technology contracts of that period were amended to do exactly that, which made this exclusion the operative rule between sophisticated commercial parties.