§ 32.001.Application

Two limits, and together they leave this chapter with a narrow field.

This chapter applies only to tort actions.

Contract claims are outside it entirely, and contribution among contractually liable parties is governed by their agreements and by other law.

The chapter does not apply if a right of contribution, indemnity, or recovery between defendants is provided by other statute or by common law.

That second limit is the one that matters, and it is broad. It yields to any other source — statutory or common law — providing any of three things: contribution, indemnity, or recovery between defendants.

The proportionate responsibility chapter is the principal occupant of the field. Its scheme of responsible parties, percentage findings and contribution rights governs most tort cases with multiple defendants.

So this chapter operates where nothing else does, which is a considerably smaller set of cases than its subject suggests.

Reading the two subsections in order is the way to use the chapter. Ask first whether the action sounds in tort; then ask whether any other source supplies a right between defendants. Only if the answers are yes and no does this chapter apply.

The deference is sensible. A general contribution rule dividing liability by head count would produce arbitrary results in a system that otherwise allocates by percentage of responsibility.