Texans for Lawsuit Reform

Through political action, legal, academic and market research, and grassroots initiatives, TLR fights for common-sense reforms that keep Texas open for business.

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In the News

That huge opioid verdict? Watch out – the energy industry is next

Houston Chronicle, September 3, 2019

By Scott Keller

Alexander Hamilton famously wrote that our nation’s courts would be “the least dangerous” branch of government. But a novel type of “public nuisance” lawsuit threatens to weaponize our courts by crippling all sorts of industries.

Public nuisance claims traditionally have been limited to conduct interfering with truly public rights. For example, courts for decades have recognized public nuisance claims brought by governments to remove impediments from their public highways or waterways. Even then, courts generally did not recognize such claims where a legislature or administrative agency had already regulated an industry. After all, if the political branches of government regulated an industry, then they were telling courts what did and did not qualify as an unlawful “nuisance.”

But a series of recent lawsuits wants courts to ignore these limits on public nuisance claims and obliterate entire industries. These lawsuits seek to massively expand what counts as a public right, and they want courts to destroy companies that are already complying with existing regulations.

Last week’s blockbuster ruling in Oklahoma is the perfect example of public nuisance lawsuit abuse. A single state judge in Oklahoma held a company liable for $572 million under a public nuisance theory—even though no public right was at issue, and the company had complied with existing regulations in a heavily regulated industry.

This ruling involved a company that was manufacturing pharmaceutical opioids. It’s clear that manufacturing the pain pills involves risks for those who take them, but that’s why federal agencies already regulate the industry so closely. Make no mistake: This public nuisance theory of judicial power and legal liability would cover all industries disfavored in the current political landscape—not just the pharmaceutical industry.

The playbook for these lawsuits is simple: Get a single court to label any widespread public policy problem as a “public nuisance,” and then get enormous money awards against any company with deep pockets in that industry. Notably, the $572 million award in the Oklahoma case was just about one pharmaceutical company’s operations in one state. Apply this public nuisance theory to multiple companies in all 50 states and entire industries will be ruined. Never mind that a company complied with existing regulations in a heavily regulated area.

In fact, this same public nuisance attack is currently being waged against the energy industry. These lawsuits want a single court—somewhere, anywhere in the country—to declare climate change is a public nuisance and then get a hefty payout. Such a decision will, they hope, serve as a blueprint for subsequent rulings all over the country. According to these lawsuits, American oil and gas companies are to blame—even though climate change issues are complex and the rest of the world significantly affects our planet’s climates.

Our nation, of course, faces significant public policy issues. Governments must confront the opioid crisis, environmental issues, and many others social problems. But where there is no political consensus on how to approach a problem, the answer cannot be to bypass the political branches through a public nuisance lawsuit.

In other words, if there’s really a need for industry-crippling regulation, it should not be done through litigation. Ideally, it should occur through the legislative process, where elected representatives can make these crucial policy decisions. But at a minimum, this regulation should be set by administrative agencies charged by legislatures with developing answers to complex policy problems.

It is striking that the recent eruption of public nuisance lawsuits has occurred in two of our country’s most heavily regulated industries—energy and pharmaceutical companies. Heavily regulated industries should be the last place where courts heap on even more regulation through novel lawsuits. Yet it’s not enough, these lawsuits allege, that companies painstakingly comply with existing vast regulations. Rather, they want courts to disregard the policies already set by legislatures and agencies.

Courts should not take the bait. The rule of law depends on our courts being above the political fray. By leaving politics to our political branches, courts ensure a functioning democracy that settles public policy disputes at the ballot box and the statehouse—not the courthouse.

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Texans for Lawsuit Reform

3 weeks ago

Texans for Lawsuit Reform

Trucking officials and tort reform advocates in Texas have introduced legislation seeking to end schemes between plaintiff attorneys and doctors under which medical costs related to truck accidents are overstated in court litigation, a practice that critics charge is contributing to a rise in large jury verdicts and lawsuit settlements against trucking companies. Read and share: bit.ly/38XtgRz ... See MoreSee Less

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Texas Truckers Fight Inflated Medical Costs in Litigation

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Trucking officials and tort reform advocates in Texas have introduced legislation seeking to end schemes between plaintiff attorneys and doctors under which medical costs related to truck accidents ar...
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Texans for Lawsuit Reform

3 weeks ago

Texans for Lawsuit Reform

“Our goals are simply to improve the fairness and efficiency of Florida’s civil justice system, to relieve parties from the expense and burdens of meritless litigation, and to save the work of juries for cases where there are real factual disputes that need resolution.” Read and share: bit.ly/3595BN3 ... See MoreSee Less

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Florida Supreme Court delivers the ‘Holy Grail of lawsuit reform’ in Thursday ruling

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The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday revamped a key legal standard as its conservative majority continued to show a willingness to undo previous decisions that have guided the state’s courts. “Ou...
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Texans for Lawsuit Reform

3 weeks ago

Texans for Lawsuit Reform

Some prominent business defense lawyers, reacting to a recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report about the relatively paltry number of COVID-19 exposure lawsuits to date, say we are merely at the starting gate for virus-related injury claims. Read and share: bit.ly/3b7TvYg ... See MoreSee Less

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Business defense attorneys warn that dearth of Covid exposure lawsuits no barometer for what’s coming

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Some prominent business defense lawyers, reacting to a recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report about the relatively paltry number of Covid-19 exposure lawsuits to date, say we are merely at the starti...
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lawsuitreform avatarTLR@lawsuitreform·
22 Jan 1352739089573945344

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lawsuitreform avatarTLR@lawsuitreform·
22 Jan 1352663609717960705

#ICYMI: Trucking officials & #tortreform advocates in Texas introduced legislation seeking to end schemes between plaintiff attorneys & doctors under which medical costs related to truck accidents are overstated in court litigation. Read & RT: #tortreform

Texas Truckers Fight Inflated Medical Costs in Litigation

Trucking officials and tort reform advocates in Texas have introduced legislation seeking to end schemes between plaintiff attorneys and doctors under...

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21 Jan 1352391794013700096

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Texans for Lawsuit Reform has thousands of supporters from across Texas who are committed to a fair and balanced civil justice system.

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