In the News

It’s clear the use of public nuisance lawsuits to circumvent the legislature has become a nation-wide problem. Texas lawmakers have the opportunity this session to ensure future litigation of this nature is conducted in a manner that benefits all Texans by passing SB 1034/HB 1372.

Texas’ state and federal courts have issued multimillion-dollar verdicts against corporations totaling over $41 BILLION dollars since 2009. The biggest nuclear verdicts stem from auto accident claims, specifically against the trucking industry.

Courts have rejected public nuisance claims related to products time and again. But the false narrative around these lawsuits—pushed and pursued by contingency-fee private attorneys—has proven compelling for local governments attempting to circumvent the legislative process.

If a court is not qualified to understand and settle your dispute, because the court lacks the proper expertise or simply does not have the time to hear your complaint on a timely basis, you are denied your fundamental right to due process. That is not acceptable.”—Former State Rep. Jason Villalba, a practicing business attorney and CEO of the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation

Last week, the Texas Senate approved Senate Joint Resolution 44, a measure authored by Sen. Joan Huffman that would let voters decide whether judges should have the authority to deny bail in cases with violent offenders.

In its current form, the public nuisance doctrine has limitless uses. What’s to stop a city from filing suit against a restaurant for causing obesity? Or a packaged goods retailer for litter cleanup?

The most recent attempt to regulate an activity through public nuisance lawsuits comes from school districts across the country alleging that social media companies are contributing to youth mental health problems.But this issue deserves a thorough policy debate—not piecemeal lawsuits.

In addition to improving Texas’ national economic reputation, specialized business courts will help Texas build a consistent, predictable and efficient body of case law and processes for handling complex business litigation.

Often, cases against the state involve nuanced, complex legal issues that require significant time and resources to resolve. These cases are currently handled by the Third Court of Appeals, but that court often transfers local and state cases to other courts to balance its dockets.

After contingency-fee attorneys took home billions from Texas’ tobacco settlement in the 1990s, the Legislature implemented safeguards to ensure any contingency fee contract used by the state is in the best interests of Texas taxpayers. Now they have the opportunity to do that again by considering public nuisance legislation.