A bill, jointly authored by Rep. Four Price and Sen. Robert Duncan, seeking to protect the rights of millions of Texans, has reached the desk of the Governor. House Bill 1869 strikes a fair balance between allowing a severely injured accident victim to recover damages caused by a negligent wrongdoer and allowing the victim’s health insurer the ability to timely recover a reasonable portion of the medical expenses paid on his or her behalf. (more…)
The Courts
Bills Would Limit Local Governments’ Ability to Pursue Environmental Claims
The Texas attorney general would be able to settle environmental lawsuits filed by cities and counties without input or approval from local officials under a bill backed by business interests that is scheduled for a hearing in Austin on Tuesday.
A second bill would bar cities and counties from hiring outside lawyers if they are to be paid from winnings to help fight costly environmental cases aimed at extracting penalties from polluters. (more…)
Texas Supreme Court Justices Torture Law on Protections for Union Members
In Texas, we have a strident belief in free-spirited ruggedness. Life’s challenges can be tamed through sheer will and individual effort. Those character traits will be particularly helpful for unionized public employees in Texas, because the Texas Supreme Court determined recently that they’re about to have to go it alone. (more…)
Study: A Few Bad Apples Dominate Patient Complaints About Doctors
It’s tricky. Patients want to be able to shop for high-quality doctors — or at least avoid the bad ones — but the quality information they can access remains spotty at best, even in these days of Yelp and Angie’s List. (more…)
Black, Silver, Hyman: Tort Reform Not the Tonic It’s Touted to Be
In a March 25 commentary in the American-Statesman, Brooke Rollins of the Texas Public Policy Foundation touts the “Texas Miracle” wrought by medical malpractice reforms in 2003. Rollins focuses on the impact of tort reform on the number of physicians and claims that the “results speak for themselves.” And so they do, but they tell a quite different story than she does. (more…)
Texas Watch Poll 2013
By intensely wide margins, Texas voters believe that insurance customers who have claims unfairly denied, delayed, or underpaid should have easier access to the courts with stiff penalties for insurers engaged in such conduct, according to a recent statewide public opinion survey conducted by Hill Research Consultants, a nationally known Republican opinion-research firm.
This session insurance lobbyists and their clients are working hard to restrict your access to the courts if you believe your insurance company has handled your claim unfairly. And, they have filed a boatload of bad bills to do just that.
So, we commissioned the statewide public opinion survey to find out what Texas voters think. The message is clear. Texas voters – across all geographic, partisan, and political lines – want stronger legal protections from rogue insurance companies. They believe that insurance companies routinely drag out lawsuits, and they want the courts – not state agency bureaucrats – resolving disputes between claimants and insurance companies.
And, 7 in 10 voters will reward legislators who believe it should be easier (or at least not harder) for a policyholder who believes their insurance claim has been handled unfairly to hire an attorney to represent their interests. 51% hold this position”strongly.”
The results speak for themselves. Check them out for yourself.
State Supreme Court Limits Union Rights in Texas
Unionized government workers in Texas — including firefighters, police and teachers — don’t have the right to be accompanied by a union representative while being questioned during internal investigations, a divided Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday. (more…)
Lawyer: Texas’ Loser Pays Law Can Unintentionally Backfire
It’s an expensive gamble that happens every day in courtrooms across the state. Texans who file a lawsuit and lose could end up owing more than they bargained for — even after a win. (more…)
Justices to Take Up Case on Generic Drug Makers’ Liability
The injuries that Karen Bartlett suffered after taking a mild pain pill are enough to make anyone squeamish.
Ms. Bartlett contends the maker of the drug she took should be liable for her injuries. The drug maker says it was not responsible for the design of the medication. (more…)
Texas’ Tort Reform Law Called Unfair
In 2010, Connie Spears, 56, lost both legs due to what she claimed was an emergency room misdiagnosis.
She sued the health care providers involved but her case was tossed out of court because she could not prove the emergency room doctors acted intentionally with “willful and wanton negligence.” (more…)
