Texas recently finished its legislative session and the best news is what didnt pass. Namely some 900 bills put forward by the tort bar. Republicans who run the Senate and House did yeomans work to keep many bills from ever reaching the floor.
The plaintiffs-lawyer lobby spent $9 million in last years state legislative elections to help smooth the way for these bills which were designed to roll back tort reforms passed in recent years or to create new ways to sue.
Yet that money wasnt enough to convince most Texas legislators to give up two-decades of hard-won legal progress which ranges from class-action clean-up to medical liability reform.
Among the more notable failed proposals were a bill that would have shifted the burden of medical proof away from plaintiffs and on to defendants in asbestos and m
esothelioma cases; an attempt to rip up Texass successful system of trying multidistrict litigation in a single court; and legislation to allow plaintiffs to sue for phantom medical expenses.
Part of this success was due to the legislatures gridlock over a controversial voter ID bill. Yet Republicans also got a helping hand from a number of brave anti-lawsuit Democrats many of them from South Texas where litigation has exacted more of an economic toll.
Speaking of the economy its notable that Texas created more new jobs last year than the other 49 states combined.
Texass low tax burden is one reason. But also important is a fairer legal environment in which companies are less likely than they were a generation ago to face jackpot justice.
*This article is from the Wall Street Journal
esothelioma cases; an attempt to rip up Texass successful system of trying multidistrict litigation in a single court; and legislation to allow plaintiffs to sue for phantom medical expenses.
Part of this success was due to the legislatures gridlock over a controversial voter ID bill. Yet Republicans also got a helping hand from a number of brave anti-lawsuit Democrats many of them from South Texas where litigation has exacted more of an economic toll.
Speaking of the economy its notable that Texas created more new jobs last year than the other 49 states combined.
Texass low tax burden is one reason. But also important is a fairer legal environment in which companies are less likely than they were a generation ago to face jackpot justice.
*This article is from the Wall Street Journal
