We are Republicans, Democrats and Independents from across Texas. We are small business owners, homemakers and community volunteers. We are lawyers who want the civil justice system in Texas to be efficient and fair. We are plant managers who want our companies to continue to grow and to create even more jobs for Texans. We are consumers who oppose the wasteful “tort tax” applied to products and services when frivolous litigation is prevalent. We are ranchers and teachers who have anguished over needless lawsuits. We are doctors and nurses who have seen colleagues abandon their chosen professions because of the emotional and financial toll imposed by legal assaults. We are the citizens of Texas who want a better future for ourselves and our children. We’re the faces of Texas… more than 16,800 individual supporters in 900 towns and cities, representing 1,255 different trades, businesses and professions.
What Texans for Lawsuit Reform Strives For, And Why
TLR’s objective is to keep litigation in its traditional and appropriate role in our society. A lawsuit takes a heavy emotional and financial toll on participants, and therefore should be the remedy of last resort to resolve disputes between parties. A lawsuit should not be used to obtain “windfall” riches for a lawyer and his client.
Since 1994, TLR has been working to create a civil justice system that discourages non-meritorious lawsuits or outrageous claims for damages. We seek to encourage quick and efficient dispute resolution. We want injured parties to be made whole by the party causing the injury at the earliest possible time. We envision a litigation system purged of intimidation and extortion, allowing plaintiffs to be fairly compensated and defendants to get a fair day in court. TLR strives for a trial environment in which the outcome is based solely on the merits of each party’s case.
To meet our goals, TLR is active in political campaigns (through the TLR Political Action Committee), in research, in legislative advocacy, in public relations, in judicial selection and in the development of case law.
TLR will continue to be fully engaged in legislative elections and in legislative advocacy to both preserve the tremendous gains that have been achieved and enact additional much-needed reforms. The Texas Legislature enacted comprehensive tort reform in its initial 1995 session and has passed reforms in virtually every legislative session since. The cumulative reforms of each legislative session over the past 25 years have made Texas a model for the rest of the country and started what has now become known has the Texas Miracle. It is little surprise that Chief Executive Magazine ranked Texas the best place to do business for the 19th year in a row in 2023.
Elements of the trial bar tenaciously try to reverse these gains each legislative session. Opponents of tort reform continually redouble their efforts to defeat pro-reform candidates at the polls.
Support of TLR is an investment in the future of our law, our economy and our society. We hope you will join us in this effort.
Recent Advocate
