NEXT time you see an ambulance, grab your mobile and call the
Dallas law firm of Miller Curtis & Weisbrod. The fine lawyers there might want to chase that ambulance. They might even reward you for the tip.

When personal injury attorneys argue against lawsuit reform, they roll out anecdotes on how badly hurt their clients were and how evil the parties hurting them are. But when they solicit the business of other law firms, they talk strictly about money. Clients are nameless, faceless creatures to the trial bar unless in front of a jury or issuing anti-reform jeremiads.

On May 15, Miller Curtis & Weisbrod sent a solicitation letter to
Oklahoma law firms offering to put its "proven track record" to work. "At the beginning of the day," the letter starts, "it's all about possibilities. At the end of the day, it's all about results."

"Possibilities" are potential cases against deep-pocket defendants. "Results" are the fees a local firm could share with the Texans. Allow us to put this another way. "At the beginning and the end of the day, it's not about justice. It's about how much money we'll make and how you can keep some."

The letter boasts of
Oklahoma verdicts and settlements in amounts with at least six zeros. It blasts the "arrogant defense attorneys" and "bad judges" of this state. The firm is fishing for business the way a Texas angler lures trout in the
Blue
River.

This fishing expedition is no surprise. Unlike Oklahoma, Texas acted to restore sanity to the tort system. Wading across the Red River is lucrative and perhaps necessary for Texas barristers.

Oklahoma will continue to be alluring because three lawyers named Brad Henry, Scott Meacham and Drew Edmondson reeled in the 2007 tort reform bill and threw it back instead of putting it in the catch bucket.

Gov. Henry, State Treasurer Meacham and Attorney General Edmondson pronounced the bill unworthy of keeping. Henry said he liked the bill but balked at two provisions. That's like saying you like a new Cadillac except for the engine and the wheels - without which no car can move an inch.

What will it take to move
Oklahoma onto the list of states in which tort reform gets more than lip service? Henry needs to fish or cut bait. A provision in the 2007 bill he didn't like was a Texas-style cap on noneconomic damages. Yet that was a hallmark of a 2004 bill Henry cast himself!

Perhaps when Texas lawyers are chasing ambulances in every
Oklahoma burg will Henry see the damage he's done to physicians and our business image. He talks about improving health care and the economy. But baiting the health care and business climate hooks with empty promises won't catch anything but grief.