View TXIR’s report on TLR’s legislative advocacy HERE

Austin, TX- Texans for Individual Rights (TXIR), a conservative public policy organization, today published a document produced by the self-styled “Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR)” encouraging Texas legislators to take away the right of Texans to elect their judges.

The document is part of a legislative briefing book that was distributed to members of the Texas legislature in January of this year. The document can be viewed at TXIR’s website, www.txir.org.

“Almost two weeks ago TXIR released an eye-opening report taking a closer look at TLR’s legislative activities. This generated an overwhelming response from grassroots activists who had no idea what TLR actually lobbied for and previously believed that TLR was committed to advancing ideologically conservative principles.” said Mark McCaig, President of Texans for Individual Rights. “Since TLR is unwilling to post information on their website regarding their belief that Texan voters are not capable of electing good judges, we have decided to post their own materials on judicial selection, unedited, on our website.”

McCaig continued, “We hope by making this information readily available to the public, Texas voters will take a closer look at TLR’s true motives and special interest agenda.”

A copy of the TXIR report on TLR’s lobbying activities during the 80th Texas Legislature can be viewed online at www.therealtlr.com.

Remember the Little Guy
Steven F. Hotze, M.D.
July 10, 2007

Shouldn’t companies and individuals who cause you harm be responsible for the damages they inflict?

You are probably aware of the lawsuits in the 1970′s against the Ford Motor Company and its Pinto automobile.  Because of poor design, rear end crashes often caused the Pinto’s gasoline tank to explode into flames.  Over 500 drivers lost their lives and thousands more were severely burned.  Ford knew about this problem and that it would only cost $11 per car to repair, but determined it was cheaper to pay the lawsuit settlements than recall the vehicles.  Incredibly, Ford put their profits above the safety of their customers.

Because plaintiff attorneys were willing to file lawsuits on behalf of these injured individuals and families on a contingency basis, and fight the multi-billion dollar Ford Motor Company, Ford paid hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments.  Ford was also criminally charged with negligent homicide for having knowingly sold unsafe cars.

These lawsuits against Ford were based on product liability law, which holds businesses responsible for any injuries caused by their products.  The Ford lawsuits and resulting settlements sent a strong signal to the automobile industry.  Safer cars have been the result.

Over the past decade, the Republicans in the Texas Legislature have passed a series of bills which have limited the liability of large corporations when they are found, by a jury, to have caused injury to their employees or their customers. This has me concerned and it should have you concerned as well.

Who wouldn’t want limited liability for their actions? This is especially true of some large corporations which place their financial interests above the well being of their employees and customers. 

Under current Texas law, it is hard to imagine that Ford Motor Company would have been required to pay out such a large amount of money in judgments as it did at that time.

Tort reform has dramatically limited the liability of businesses and individuals in Texas .  The Texas Legislature has set limits on the amount that a business or individual can be required to pay in judgment to an injured party.  No one likes the idea of frivolous lawsuits, but most individuals seem to agree that a remedy should be paid to an injured party commensurate with the damage.

Who does this current law benefit?  It benefits the large corporations and the well financed, who have deep pockets and the wherewithal to hire a bevy of defense attorneys.  Their financial risk for shoddy workmanship and unsafe products has been dramatically reduced.

What about the small business owner, or the individual with modest means?  How will they afford the assistance of a lawyer to help them be fairly compensated for their losses?

As a physician and conservative, I have a healthy distrust for big government and big business. The conservative position requires accountability for actions.

It appears to me that the pendulum for tort reform has swung too far in favor of big business.

It’s time to remember the little guy.

Mark McCaig, President of Texans for Individual Rights, stated “While Texans for Lawsuit Reform claims to be a grassroots organization with over 15,000 members, their campaign finance reports show them to be nothing more than a front group for a small group of wealthy businessmen.”

The expenditures of the TLR PAC show several contributions to members of the Texas Supreme Court, including a $5,000 donation to Justice Don Willett, who recently authored the court’s opinion in the case of Fortis Benefits v. Cantu. This decision overturned 27 years of established case law that required injured policyholders to be “made whole” before insurance companies could recover any portion of a settlement or verdict.

“While there is nothing wrong with businesses or individuals promoting their personal agendas before the state legislature, they should do so honestly”, McCaig added. “TLR’s policy agenda, which includes taking away the right of Texans to elect their judges and protecting negligent liquor store owners from being held accountable when they serve intoxicated customers, is not reflective of the views of ordinary citizens. We urge Texans for Lawsuit Reform to end their fraudulent claims of being a grassroots organization and to stop lying to Texas voters about who they really represent.”

Texans for Individual Rights is a conservative, non-partisan organization dedicated to the protection of personal liberty, individuals’ access to the civil justice system, and private property rights. For more information about TXIR, please visit www.txir.org.

The tort reform movement loves to point to cases such as this to talk about a “widespread crisis” of frivolous lawsuits that require extensive “reform” of the civil justice system. The truth of the matter is that the “reforms” the tort reform lobby seeks would do nothing to stop cases like the pants lawsuit from being filed. There is already a system in place (which is well at work in this particular case) to sanction those who bring lawsuits that the court deems to be truly frivolous. If the tort reform movement was really about combating frivolous lawsuits, they would focus their time and energy on increasing sanctions on those who truly abuse the courts instead of working to limit the rights of individuals who have been harmed.

HB 3281 would have clarified the “paid or incurred” law that was passed by the legislature. The current law, as Rep. King notes at Paul Burka’s blog, both punishes those responsible enough to carry health insurance and rewards those who do not.

This was an irresponsible veto by Gov. Perry. This bill would have made excellent public policy and was the result of the hard work of a number of conservative legislators such as Phil King, Dan Gattis, Bryan Hughes, John Smithee, Larry Phillips, and others. This was reflected by the wide support the bill had in the legislature. However, despite a good faith attempt by the bill authors to work with all interested parties in crafting a compromise that was good for all Texans, the insurance lobby (and their allies in groups such as the Texas Association of Business) still opposed the bill. Instead of signing this bill and supporting Texas policyholders, the Governor has once again sided with the insurance industry and the business lobby.

Mark McCaig, President of Texans for Individual Rights stated, “We are very concerned about the impact SB 1204 would have on the integrity of our judicial system. Our judges are accountable to the local citizens who elect them. Under SB 1204, cases will be removed from those locally elected judges and transferred to judges from other parts of the state, or even worse, to retired judges who account to no one. This will open the door wide open for unchecked judicial activism.”

McCaig continued, “SB 1204 is a key piece of legislation being promoted this session by the special interest lobby group Texans for Lawsuit Reform. In addition to decimating local control of the courts, many of the proposals contained in this bill would establish roadblocks to individuals having their cases heard by a citizen jury in a timely manner. These delay tactics only serve to benefit TLR’s wealthy supporters who have business interests before the courts on a regular basis. We encourage the State Affairs committee to kill this bill.”

Texans for Individual Rights is a conservative, non-partisan organization dedicated to the protection of personal liberty, individuals’ access to the civil justice system, and private property rights.