In This Issue...

What™s Left To Be Done [0]

Tort Reform Leaders [0]

Our Team [0]

Summary of House Bill 4 [0]

HJR3 & The Constitutional Amendment [0]

When we founded TLR in 1994, we believed that in this democracy, citizens who see a wrong, an abuse, or a problem have both the right and the duty to organize themselves to petition their government to right the wrong, end the abuse, or cure the problem. TLR has grown to over 11,561 citizens in every nook and cranny of Texas”men and women who are engaged in the whole range of trades, occupations and professions in our society. We have petitioned our government to cure many of the wrongs, abuses and problems in our civil justice system. Our government responded by enacting House Bill 4 in the 2003 session of the Texas Legislature. (See page 8 [1] for complete summary.)

House Bill 4 is the most comprehensive tort reform legislation that any state has ever passed. It will serve as a model to other states that wish to address the over-litigiousness of American society. HB 4 will help restore balance, fairness, common sense, and a degree of predictability to the Texas civil justice system. It will go a long way toward restoring litigation to its traditional and appropriate role in our society, as the method of last resort to resolve a legitimate dispute between parties. HB 4 will benefi t generations of Texans in innumerable and immeasurable ways, including: restoring respect for the law, improving the effi ciency of our courts, producing cost savings to consumers for the goods and services they purchase, alleviating our current health care crisis, and encouraging economic development and job growth.

TLR did not produce HB 4. The dedicated men and women in the Legislature, working with Governor Rick Perry, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, and Speaker Tom Craddick, produced HB 4. To them, we are deeply appreciative and grateful. But all of us in TLR”all 11,561 of us”can be justifi ably proud that we fully participated in our magnifi cent democracy and played an important role in the development and passage of comprehensive tort reform in Texas.

Richard W. Weekley Chairman & CEO	Leo Linbeck, Jr. Senior Chairman	Richard J. Trabulsi, Jr. President President