Texas Watch—Consumer Protection. Corporate Accountability. Citizen Advocacy.

Consumer, environmental, and labor advocates testified at a legislative hearing today about the importance of reversing the decades long trend of corporate immunity in Texas.

Lawmakers gathered to discuss an interim committee assignment dealing with “third party liability issues involving workers’ compensation.”  In light of recent Texas workplace disasters and the BP oil spill, advocates told a joint hearing of the House Business & Industry and Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence committees that corporations like BP that cut corners on safety should be held fully responsible. Read More »

On Thursday, two legislative committees will convene to discuss “third-party liability issues involving workers’ compensation.”  Even though the topic of this hearing was set long before the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, BP puts the hearing in a new light that spurs a second look at our pro-defendant civil justice system and the impact immunity for BP-style disasters has on workers, communities, and the environment.  We have a new video putting the focus where it should be. Read More »

Right in our backyard is the most dangerous industrial plant in the nation.  It is owned and operated by none other than BP.  The plant in Texas City has a long and notorious track record of “willful and egregious” safety violations.  Under current law, BP is immune from responsibility for needlessly killing or injuring its workers in Texas.  Why? Read More »

Check out Texas Watch’s newest web video reminding Gov. Rick Perry that he promised to fix our broken homeowners insurance market in 2002.  It is 2010 and nothing has changed. Read More »

The Attorney General’s office has sent a Cease and Desist Letter to stop Travelers Insurance from airing a deceptive ad in Texas.  This action comes after Texas Watch requested an investigation by the Attorney General and Insurance Commissioner earlier this week.

If Travelers fails to pull its ad off the air immediately, the Attorney General’s office can seek further legal action, including an injunction, to block the company from airing this ad in Texas. Read More »

Travelers Insurance is currently running a misleading and deceptive television ad in Texas that is meant to scare homeowners into believing they could lose their home if they do not have sufficient auto insurance to cover their liability in an auto accident.  Texas Watch has requested an investigation by Attorney General Greg Abbott and Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin. Read More »

Like our Founding Fathers before us, the time has come for us to stand up and be heard. Tell key lawmakers to declare their independence from the insurance industry by standing up for Texas homeowners and passing real reforms that will give Texans some protection from excessive premiums and inadequate coverage. Read More »

Tropical Storm Alex is building strength in the Gulf of Mexico.  Forecasters are currently predicting the storm to make landfall in northern Mexico later this week as a Category 1 or 2 hurricane.  Tropical storm force winds could affect the Rio Grande Valley up to the Coastal Bend.

Texas Watch, a statewide non-profit consumer group active on insurance issues, encourages residents in South Texas to prepare for the possibility of having to file a catastrophic insurance claim by taking a few precautionary steps. Read More »

Texans are fed up with the way insurance companies are allowed to throw their weight around.  They can raise their rates whenever they want without any justification.  That frustration is boiling over into the Legislature.  Watch this video to hear what Sen. Kevin Eltife (R-Tyler) had to say on this subject. Read More »

What do the Deepwater Horizon tragedy and medical malpractice have in common?  The same public policy of limiting accountability is failing.  In The New York Times Magazine, economist David Leonhardt discusses  human nature’s tendency to minimize the likelihood of catastrophic incidents because we just can’t get our heads around them.  In those cases, it is up to policymakers to ensure that the law of the land forces us to prepare for these never-events by ensuring there are real consequences. Read More »