TLR spent the 2015 and 2017 legislative sessions working to fix the problems storm-chasing lawyers were creating for Texas property owners. Fortunately, the Texas Legislature passed a common-sense solution in 2017 to make it harder for these lawyers to file unnecessary lawsuits, while maintaining the strongest insurance consumer protections laws in the United States for Texas property owners.
There’s every reason to be alarmed by some personal injury lawyers’ efforts to abuse our courts and cash in on the climate change debate (“Climate Change: A Plea for Leadership and Legislation, Not Litigation,” June 22, 2018). It’s a long running effort dating back to the 1990s but seems to be picking up steam once again.
“Where is Texas Watch in objecting to the Houston lawyer who signs up clients on a 45-percent contingency fee and then dumps their matters into appraisal – knowing very well there is no need for a lawyer to handle an appraisal process?”
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton didn’t hold back following a hearing to dismiss New York City’s climate change lawsuit, accusing “liberal politicians” of trying to “enact disastrous policies through the courts because they have been unable to do so through the ballot box.”
HOUSTON – In May, Texas Watch, a self-labeled consumer advocacy group, released an opinion piece arguing an “assault waged by insurance companies” in the state legislature has left many Hurricane Harvey victims still unable to resume their lives eight months later.
Eight months after Hurricane Harvey made landfall, many Texas families still face a long road home. Only 33 percent of home insurance claims have been paid and a staggering 51 percent have been closed with no payment.
SAN ANTONIO – Although he lost in the Democratic Primary last month, Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood had his campaign bolstered with $110,000 in contributions from lawyers he hired to represent the county in an opioid lawsuit.
AUSTIN—On March 29, Texans for Lawsuit Reform launched its newly updated and redesigned website, tortreform.com.
The site serves as a one-stop resource for lawsuit reform news and analysis, as well as the definitive record on Texas’ historic work to make its legal system fair, efficient and accountable, a press release states.
AUSTIN – “Transformative” is the word Gov. Greg Abbott used to describe Texans for Lawsuit Reform’s impact on the Texas economy and the role lawsuit reform has played in creating and protecting the Texas Miracle.
HOUSTON – Joining a nationwide trend, Texas municipals have begun suing the makers of opioids in recent months, alleging drug manufactures knew of the dangers but placed profits above the public good.
And while no one is really debating that opioid addiction isn’t real or a problem, at least one group is questioning how enriching trial lawyers will cure the epidemic.
State governments across the country are suing energy companies like ExxonMobil on the pretext that “climate change” is a proven fact rather than an hypothesis, that energy companies have contributed to it and therefore are legally responsible for any weather-related damages that occur and the cost of their remediation.
AUSTIN – On Jan. 30, Texans for Lawsuit Reform announced Lilyanne McClean will join the organization in April as president, as well as the addition of Marc Watts and Michael Weekley to TLR’s Board of Directors.
HOUSTON – From the east coast to the west, local governments seeking billions in damages have filed suit against big oil companies, alleging the fossil fuel industry was aware of their role in triggering climate change but opted to place profits above the environment.
HIDALGO COUNTY – Over the past several years, Edinburg attorney Kent Livesay has experienced his own share of legal troubles, from being fingered in a barratry lawsuit to being suspended for misconduct.
HOUSTON – On Dec. 21, Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC endorsed Katy Boatman of Houston in her campaign for Place 7 on the First Court of Appeals in Harris County and nine surrounding counties.
DALLAS – Several Texas civil justice groups have endorsed John Browning, a Dallas attorney with nearly three decades of experience practicing law, to become a justice on the state’s most active court of appeals.
AUSTIN – For the past two years, two of Texas’ more litigious venues caught the attention of the American Tort Reform Association -- Hidalgo County, arguably the birthplace of mass hailstorm litigation, and the Eastern District of Texas, a hot spot for patent infringement cases.
