§ 75.004.Limitation on Monetary Damages for Private Landowners

A damages cap conditioned on carrying insurance, and it is one of the three routes into the chapter.

The liability of an owner, lessee, or occupant of agricultural land used for recreational purposes for an act or omission relating to the premises resulting in damages is limited to $500,000 for each person and $1 million for each single occurrence of bodily injury or death, and $100,000 for property.

Subsection (b) makes the cap a bargain. It applies only to an owner who has liability insurance coverage in effect in the amounts equal to or greater than those provided. The cap is available only to a landowner who has bought coverage sufficient to pay up to it.

That is the same structure as the alternative medical liability cap: the limitation is given in exchange for guaranteed collectibility. A claimant facing this cap is facing a defendant who is insured to its full amount.

Carrying that insurance is also a route into the chapter. Under the applicability section, an owner with coverage in these amounts qualifies regardless of what they charge for entry — so a commercial hunting operation can obtain the chapter's reduced duty by insuring rather than by limiting its charges.

Subsection (c) preserves insurance claims: the section does not affect the liability of an insurer under the Insurance Code's unfair practices chapter, or for bad faith, breach of fiduciary duty, or negligent failure to settle.

Subsection (d): this section does not apply to a governmental unit, whose exposure is governed by the Tort Claims Act caps instead.