New 'documentary' pushes personal injury lawyer agenda

By Michelle Martin

You may have heard about the documentary, "Hot Coffee," which is airing on HBO. What some viewers may not know is that the movie was made by personal injury lawyers to drive a lawsuit agenda that has made them incredibly wealthy; viewers should consider the source.

An honest, thoughtful study of the issue would also have looked at the thousands of small businesses, health care professionals and employers who are routinely the victims of abusive lawsuits. The movie selectively presents examples and attempts to use those few cases to deflect from the many, many more questionable and outright abusive lawsuits that flood our legal system.

Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse supports justice for people who truly have been injured. But our justice system is intended to make people whole, not rich. That's been lost along the way and too often lawsuits and our courts are used as a way to cash in.

As most Texans recall, we once had the biggest lawsuit abuse problem in the nation. Personal injury lawyers flocked to our state and bragged that they could win big money in Texas courts. They manufactured cases to make tens of millions of dollars. Small business owners operated in fear of the one lawsuit that could put them out of business and their employees out of a job, and doctors were being driven out of the state, or out of their practice, by abusive and baseless suits.

Fortunately, times have changed for the better. With CALA leading the charge, Texans said, "Enough is enough!" and demanded reforms to bring common sense and fairness back to our courts. And reforms have worked.

You too can show your support for common-sense reforms that work.

To speak out about the truth behind this movie, post your concerns on Facebook or Twitter.

This misleading movie completely ignores the abusive lawsuits and rampant lawsuit culture that have made our country the most litigious country in the world � and we are all paying the price for it.

That is why people want and support legal reform, which makes our legal system fairer for everyone.

Michelle Martin is the executive director of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse-Houston.