AUSTIN—The Keep Texas Trucking Coalition has released its latest video, highlighting the devastating impact abusive lawsuits have on Texas small businesses.
The video features Sarah Sagredo-Hammond, whose family-owned electrical, plumbing and HVAC business in the Rio Grande Valley is feeling the strain of Texas’ excessive litigation environment for commercial vehicles.
“In eight years our insurance tripled – tripled,” Sagredo-Hammond says in the video. “I went out looking for different insurance providers, asking them why, why is my insurance is going up. We don’t have a claim. They said it’s because you have a fleet.
“They told me it’s getting to the point where people don’t want to insure small business in Texas because there is so much liability.”
According to the Texas Office of Court Administration, motor vehicle litigation has increased 118 percent in Texas since 2008, while other types of personal injury litigation have decreased.
In 2019, a lawsuit followed every 10 accidents, up from one in 17 accidents in 2008.
Groups like Texans for Lawsuit Reform maintain the surge in commercial vehicle litigation has caused the price of insurance to skyrocket, whether or not a company has had an accident or even owns a vehicle.
“These fraudulent cases are bleeding small business,” says Sagredo-Hammond. “Businesses are closing down because of commercial insurance pricing, and it’s not the (insurer’s) fault – it’s the attorneys.”
Sagredo-Hammond goes on to say that attorneys are demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars for cases that are only worth $15,000.
“To get sued for a fraudulent claim is heartbreaking,” says Sagredo-Hammond. “It makes you want to cry. It makes you want to close down.”
Legislation such as House Bill 19 was introduced this session to address abusive lawsuits against owners and operators of commercial vehicles in Texas.
The committee substitute for HB 19 was voted out of the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee yesterday, and is awaiting a vote by the full Texas House of Representatives.
The bill ensures a Texan who is injured by the negligence of a commercial vehicle operator can be fully compensated for the injury he or she suffered, while also ensuring cases are tried consistently and uniformly across the state and that juries have the relevant information required to make a fair decision.
The Keep Texas Trucking Coalition has nearly 500 members spanning businesses and associations across nearly every sector of the Texas economy.