HB5624

HB5624 creates a liability limitation for defined commercial off-road vehicle activities when the operator or other covered entity has posted and maintained the required warning in a clearly visible location at an entrance. The warning must be posted when the injury occurs. It is not blanket immunity: the law contains specific exceptions. The prescribed sign must state that Texas law, Chapter 75E of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, limits the entity’s liability for participant injuries or death resulting from the activity; the exact required wording is in the act. Final law, 75E.002(a) and 75E.003.

Covered vehicles have two to four wheels, a combustion engine or electric motor, weigh 8,000 pounds or less, and are designed for unpaved roads and surfaces. Covered activities are recreational or educational activities at commercial properties designed for that purpose, including instruction, practice, competitions, performances, tours, hunts and races. Protected entities include qualifying owners, operators and lessees, as well as sponsors, sanctioning/endorsing bodies and officials, including employees or volunteers within the statutory definition. The law is not a general liability exemption for every off-road drive anywhere. Final law, definitions.

A participant excludes an entity’s employee. Spectators ordinarily are excluded too, unless they enter an unauthorized area or intentionally put themselves in immediate proximity to the activity. Covered participant injuries include bodily injury, emotional distress, death, property damage and other losses arising from participation. Final law, 75E.001(3)–(4).

Liability is not limited for injuries proximately caused by the entity’s gross negligence or intentional misconduct concerning area/participant safety; ordinary negligence involving a vehicle or equipment the entity supplied; non-inherent dangerous conditions the entity knew or reasonably should have known about; or failure to train/improper training of an employee actively involved in the area or activity. Intentionally caused injuries are also excluded. The dangerous-condition provision distinguishes inherent off-road driving risks and refers to unstable roads/surfaces and natural or man-made obstacles; a specific injury’s classification depends on its facts. Final law, 75E.002(b).

Separately, the act states that the attractive-nuisance doctrine—a legal doctrine relevant to some child-trespasser injury claims—does not apply to a claim by a person for an injury occurring in a defined off-road vehicle area. That subsection’s wording is broader than the participant-injury wording of the main liability limitation; it should not be reduced to “a sign waives every claim.” The act applies only to causes of action that accrue on or after September 1, 2025, not simply lawsuits filed after that date. Final law, 75E.002(c) and Sections 2–3; official history.