Report: Tort Reform in Texas a Success
A legal reform group says legislation passed in 2005 to help Texas courts deal with asbestos and silica lawsuits has been successful. The Texas Civil Justice League on Tuesday released a report, calling the legislation a “Texas success story.” The law required plaintiffs to show certain medical evidence to move their lawsuits to an active docket and also asked judges in two multidistrict litigation courts to provide progress reports last year. Harris County Judge Mark Davidson handled the asbestos MDL and Harris County Judge Tracy Christopher was appointed to the silica MDL, but was replaced by Judge Tad Halbach in 2009 after taking a job on an appeals court.
The benefits of tort reform in Texas
Lawsuit reform has been good for Texas. A recent commentary to the contrary on this page failed to include some very important facts.
The Wall Street Journal called Texas the “lawsuit capital of the world” and 60 Minutes produced a segment entitled, “Justice for Sale” in Texas. Lloyds of London imposed an insurance surcharge on any company that did business in Texas because of the high probability and excessive cost of lawsuits.
Peggy Venable: Tort Reform? We’ve Already Done It
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In his address last week, President Obama said he had talked to some doctors and learned that medical procedures were being done that may not be necessary due to fear of medical malpractice lawsuits, and he entertained the idea of tort reform, saying we could try it in some states with pilot projects.
But there’s no need …
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