Texas is turning heads, yet again. The latest national recognition comes from CNBC, which recently named Texas the Best State for Business in 2018. This makes the Lone Star State the first to snag the top spot four times in the study’s 12-year history. According to CNBC, “Texas has added more than 350,000 jobs in the past year… Put another way, one in seven jobs created in the United States in the past year was created in Texas.” CNBC uses a variety of criteria to rank the states, from quality of workforce and life to infrastructure, technology and cost of living. But one part of the study jumped out at us the most. “Since we introduced our rankings in 2007, Texas has never finished outside the top five overall, always following the same basic formula… The state prides itself on business-friendly regulations, smart spending and low taxes… The state does not always meet those priorities. This year, for example, it finishes… No. 21 for Business Friendliness because of a sometimes difficult legal climate.” That’s right. Texas—the national example of successful, common-sense tort reform—ranked near the middle of the pack in business friendliness because of our legal environment. An excellent

TLR spent the 2015 and 2017 legislative sessions working to fix the problems storm-chasing lawyers were creating for Texas property owners. Fortunately, the Texas Legislature passed a common-sense solution in 2017 to make it harder for these lawyers to file unnecessary lawsuits, while maintaining the strongest insurance consumer protections laws in the United States for Texas property owners. We had heard credible stories since late 2013 of lawyers trolling for clients following hail and wind storms. In many places, lawyers were ignoring criminal laws and ethical rules by paying roofing contractors and public insurance adjusters to go door-to-door to solicit clients. The solicitors were promising homeowners they could get a lot more money from their insurance companies if they would just “sign here.” In many cases, they never disclosed that they were working on behalf of an attorney. Then the lawyers would step in—sometimes filing 20 or more lawsuits at a time—claiming all kinds of nefarious actions by the insurance companies. In many instances, the insurance companies had paid the homeowners’ claims months before, and having heard nothing more from the homeowner, closed the file. Even worse, we repeatedly heard that many homeowners were completely surprised to learn they had

Ambulance Chasing Our Veterans Barratry—more commonly known as ambulance chasing—is one of the biggest challenges currently facing Texas’ legal system. Barratry has been illegal in the Lone Star State for decades. But that small technicality hasn’t stopped the practice from flourishing. Whether lawyers are trolling emergency rooms for car accident clients, working superstore parking lots to recruit plaintiffs to sue for undiagnosed diseases from alleged asbestos exposure or going door-to-door in neighborhoods soliciting property owners to sue insurance companies for storm-caused property damage, ambulance chasing is a serious problem. A recent poll showed that most Texans recognize the severity of the consequences of ambulance chasing. Sixty-seven percent of respondents agreed that personal injury trial lawyers exploit people injured in accidents and with illnesses for their own gain. Where will we draw the line? What will it take to finally hold ambulance chasers accountable for breaking the law and taking advantage of our sick and injured neighbors? The answer may be when they start messing with Texas veterans. Many veterans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan were exposed to smoke from pits where garbage was burned. These burn pits were used to dispose of everything from food and medical waste to batteries

  The Texas Legislature last year overwhelmingly passed a common-sense lawsuit reform to keep storm-chasing lawyers from hijacking property insurance claims and making insurance coverage more expensive for us all. The TLR-inspired legislation passed with active support by Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. More than a year later, polling shows that Texans overwhelmingly support the Legislature’s actions. A whopping 65 percent of Texans statewide favored requiring attorneys who represent policyholders to give insurance companies notice of a disputed claim and 60 days to resolve the dispute before a lawsuit is filed. Support was strong across the board, regardless of political affiliation. Of those surveyed, Democrats supporting the measure clocked in at 66 percent, Republicans at 65 percent and Independents at 62 percent. Why such strong support? Because it’s common sense. As one attorney noted in a recent article, providing a 60-day notice coupled with allowing the insurance company to inspect the damaged property helps get disputes resolved. “The inspection allows any missed damages to be adjusted and paid if covered. Lawsuits can be avoided. Consumers and carriers both win. Only lawyers—from both sides—lose out on fees.” That bears repeating: consumers and carriers both win, only the lawyers

By Mary Tipps TLR is a small organization, but we’re one big family. So when our family grows, we like to celebrate it! This week, our senior chairman, Dick Weekley, hosted a reception to welcome our new president, Lilyanne McClean, and our two new board members, Marc Watts and Michael Weekley, to the team. Lilyanne, Marc and Michael have hit the ground running since joining TLR, so this reception was a fantastic opportunity to introduce them to some of our longtime supporters in a more informal setting. After the reception, we had a wonderful team dinner where we all got to catch up on the latest happenings with children, grandchildren, trips, new homes and everything in between. Since our team is split up between our Houston and Austin offices, it’s always a treat when we can get everyone together for some quality time. Part of the reason why TLR works so efficiently is because we have a dedicated team that works hard and works together extraordinarily well. Some of our team members have been with TLR since the beginning, which is a testament to the strong family environment we have in the office. Having the support and confidence of your