§ 71.007.Ineffective Agreement

An anti-avoidance provision aimed at contractual allocation of liability.

An agreement between the owner of a railroad, street railway, steamboat, stagecoach, or other transport vehicle, of an industrial or public utility plant, or of other machinery, and an individual, corporation, trustee, receiver, lessee, joint-stock association, or other entity in control of or operating it, does not release the owner or the entity controlling or operating the property from liability provided by this subchapter.

The provision closes an obvious route around the statute. The wrongful death section imposes liability on both the owner and whoever is in charge of the operation. Without this, the two could agree between themselves which of them bore it — and a lease to a judgment-proof operator would defeat the claim.

Neither party is released. The section protects the claimant against both sides of the bargain, so the agreement is ineffective in either direction.

The agreement remains good between the parties to it. What it cannot do is affect the survivors' rights, who were not party to it.

The enumerated property matches the operator branches of the liability section, and the two provisions were designed to work together.