• What happened: A recent survey by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) found that Texas small businesses are struggling with to keep up with high operational costs, despite the state’s overall strong economy.
  •  Included in Texas small business owners’ top ten concerns were inflation and the availability and high cost of liability insurance, underscoring the challenges small businesses face in the current economic climate.
• Remind me: Texas has long been known for its business-friendly environment thanks to smart decisions by our state’s leadership. But it’s clear we can do more to lighten the burden on small businesses, which pay a disproportionate share of taxes relative to their economic output.
• In their own words: “Small businesses employ nearly half of the private sector workforce, and this publication makes clear where lawmakers should focus their attention to strengthen Main Street and every community in which they operate.” –NFIB Research Center Executive Director Holly Wade
• TLR Thoughts: Texas’ pro-growth policies have helped build its reputation as a top state for business, but things like the increasing frequency and cost of nuclear verdicts are making it harder to find and afford the insurance small businesses need to operate. As we begin to gear up for the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers should prioritize policies that make it easier for small businesses to create jobs and invest in our communities.

Read the full article here

• What happened: Additional comments from Chevron’s CEO shed new light on the policies that drove the energy producer out of California and to the Lone Star State, including the California Attorney General’s climate nuisance lawsuit. Read more
• Remind me: California is one of dozens of state and local governments to sue energy companies for creating the public nuisance of climate change through the production of a legal product that its citizens rely on every day.
• In his own words: “We believe California has a number of policies that raise costs, that hurt consumers, that discourage investment and, ultimately, we think that’s not good for the economy in California and for consumers… We believe that climate is a matter that’s a global issue and is best addressed through national and global policy engagement, and not through the courts.” –Chevron CEO Mike Wirth
• What else? California’s tax and regulatory burden also received a dishonorable mention.
• TLR Thoughts: Texas’ leadership has made strategic, long-term decisions to build an economic environment that encourages job creation and investment, including the recent creation of our specialized business court. But there’s more to be done.
  • The recent proliferation of nuclear verdicts in Texas is making it more expensive to operate and insure a business here, no matter the size.
  • Nothing is stopping local governments from filing the same types of burdensome public nuisance lawsuits that we’re seeing across the country.
  • The new business court gives us an opportunity to strengthen the corporate governance laws that fall within its purview, helping build out the legal framework for businesses that call Texas home.

• What happened: A new poll by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that 71 percent of likely voters support reforms to rein in personal injury trial lawyer advertising. Read more
• Digging into the numbers: Support was overwhelming across the ideological spectrum, with 73 percent of Republicans, 71 percent of Democrats and 69 percent of independents agreeing with the need to curb rampant attorney advertising.
• Everywhere, all the time: Personal injury firms are funneling big dollars into TV, radio, digital and outdoor ads to help recruit new clients and influence juries.
  • Potential clients never need to look far to find an attorney, or are scared out of using certain products or medications.
  • The public (and any potential jury pool) becomes immune to massive payouts, increasingly believing they’re justified even when they’re not supported by the facts of a case.
• What about Texas: The Legislature passed a 2019 law aimed at creating clearer disclosures in attorney advertising related to prescription drugs and medical devices. And the Texas Supreme Court recently amended its rules requiring clearer disclosure about what the client actually received in ads touting high dollar judgments.
  • This was in response to a San Antonio man revealing he hadn’t received a dime out of an advertised $1.25 billion judgment.
• TLR Thoughts: Attorney advertising plays an outsized role in the lawsuit generation machine, and in building Texas’ dubious reputation as a national leader in nuclear verdicts. The Texas Legislature should look at all the factors playing into this ecosystem, and whether they help or hurt our legal system.

• Here’s what happened: On the heels of major corporations such as X, SpaceX and Tesla moving to Texas, Chevron Corp. has announced it is relocating its headquarters from California to Houston. Find out more
• Go further: Chevron cited California’s stringent environmental rules and regulatory policies as significant obstacles to business and investment and could increase gas prices for everyday consumers.
• In his own words: “The policies in California have become pretty restrictive on a lot of business fronts, not just the environment.”–Chevron CEO Mike Wirth
• So, this is awkward… Last year, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a climate nuisance lawsuit against Chevron and four other oil companies seeking massive payouts for their alleged contributions to climate change-related environmental damage.
• What’s great about Texas: In addition to our smart economic policies like low taxes and predictable regulations, this September, Texas’ new specialized business courts–a critical investment in economic development that will streamline the resolution of business disputes–will be operational in major metropolitan cities statewide. Get up to speed
• TLR Thoughts: Thanks to smart policy decisions by our state’s leaders, Texas has the eighth-largest economy in the world and attracts businesses of all sizes. Those decisions are paying off
  in the form of jobs for Texans and investment in our communities, and now is not the time to take our foot off the gas.

Read the full article here.

• What happened: Lexington, Kentucky is the latest city to sue Hyundai and Kia for allegedly creating a public nuisance by selling vehicles that are “too easy to steal.”
• Tell me more: As of now, 17 cities have joined federal multidistrict litigation against Kia and Hyundai, including the city of Baltimore.
• Notice a trend? Rather than using existing laws to address the growing increase in crime in their cities, local governments are increasingly teaming up with plaintiff’s firms to file public nuisance lawsuits against legal products and activities across the country. And some are more litigious than others.
• For those keeping score at home, Baltimore has sued:
  • Kia and Hyundai for the public nuisance of car theft;
  • PepsiCo, Frito Lay and others for the public nuisance of litter;
  • ExxonMobil, BP and Chevron for the public nuisance of climate change.
  • 👀 “A municipality’s soft-on-crime policies certainly aren’t the car manufacturers’ fault.” Read more from Sen. Mayes Middleton in the TLR Advocate
• TLR Thoughts: Without legislative action establishing guardrails to help courts determine products and activities to which public nuisance lawsuits do not apply, we can expect to see more and more of these lawsuits filed around the country.

Read the full article here.

• What happened: A Maryland state judge has dismissed Baltimore’s climate nuisance lawsuit–the first such dismissal in the nation–saying the litigation went “beyond the limits of state law.”
  • While federal judges have previously dismissed lawsuits that made state-based nuisance claims, this case marks the first time a state judge has done so.
• A troubling trend: Public nuisance lawsuits—including those related to climate change—have evolved as a means for local and state governments to attempt to pad their budgets and for activists to bypass the appropriate legislative process to target legal products and activities they don’t like.

• Worth mentioning: While this is a step in the right direction, dozens of other climate nuisance cases remain pending. A coalition of 20 attorneys general (Including Texas) has filed an amicus brief in one of the cases arguing that states and local governments are improperly attempting to regulate interstate greenhouse gas emissions under state law, which is a federal responsibility.

• In her own words: “The explanation by Baltimore that it only seeks to address and hold Defendants accountable for a deceptive misinformation campaign is simply a way to get in the back door what they cannot get in the front door.”–Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Videtta Brown

• TLR Thoughts: It will likely take years to resolve the pending climate nuisance cases. With thousands of Texas jobs at risk, the Texas Legislature should establish guardrails to clarify cases the public nuisance doctrine should not apply to—namely those targeting legal or permitted activities.

Read the full article here.

• What’s happening: As Baltimore officials appeal last week’s dismissal of the city’s climate nuisance lawsuit against oil and gas companies, let’s take a closer look at Judge Videtta A. Brown’s key rulings in the case.

• Out of scope: Judge Brown noted out-of-state emissions were beyond the scope of state court and interstate pollution was preempted by the federal Clean Air Act.
  • “Global pollution-based complaints were never intended by Congress to be handled by individual states.”

• • Brown ruled against Baltimore’s claim under the Maryland Consumer Protection Act, citing the three-year statute of limitations and stating the city was aware of fossil fuel impacts for more than three years before filing.
  • “Baltimore does not allege that its injury comes from its own use of or direct exposure to Defendant’s fossil fuels but from consumers’ decisions to use fossil fuels across the globe for many years.”
• Public nuisance doesn’t apply: Brown ruled that greenhouse gas emissions are not a nuisance under state law, despite the city’s claims.
• “Fossil fuels are a lawful consumer product guided and regulated by the EPA. Baltimore does not allege that the Defendants directly released a hazardous chemical into the waters or lands of Baltimore at the point of sale.”

• What’s next: The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the city and county of  Honolulu’s climate nuisance lawsuit and has requested input from the Biden administration, presumably because of the case’s impact on national energy policy.

• TLR Thoughts: Courts have repeatedly ruled that climate change is a major global policy that needs to be addressed by the appropriate legislative or regulatory bodies.
  • For example, in 2021, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed New York City’s climate nuisance lawsuit, emphasizing that climate change is a global issue best regulated by federal and international law, not state courts.
  • BUT… that hasn’t stopped dozens of cities, states and local governments from continuing to file climate nuisance lawsuits across the country in an attempt to pad government coffers and circumvent the legislative process to target legal products and activities.
  • Without legislative action, we can expect more public nuisance lawsuits against various industries to continue.

Read the full article here.

• Here’s what happened: A recent study found that Texas is a leading state for nuclear verdicts, with 130 reported verdicts totaling $16 billion from 2013 to 2022.
• Dive deeper: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce attributes anchoring techniques—where plaintiff’s attorneys suggest specific, often arbitrary amounts for damages—with helping drive up the costs of both settlements and lawsuit awards.
  • In one case, a plaintiff’s attorney suggested the jury award “two cents” per mile driven by the defendant’s trucks, resulting in a $39 million jury award. The Texas Supreme Court later ruled that these “unsubstantiated anchors” and other tactics required a new trial.
• TLR Thoughts: The Texas Legislature should take a close look at the factors contributing to nuclear verdicts in the Lone Star State, including anchoring, rampant attorney advertising, inflated medical damages, and others.

Read the full article here.