The 89th Texas Legislative Session begins today, and Texans for Lawsuit Reform will continue fighting for a fair and balanced civil court system to ensure economic prosperity for all Texans.
In 2023, with TLR’s strong support, the Texas Legislature created a specialized court to hear and resolve business-to-business disputes. TLR will support enhancements to that court in the upcoming session. TLR will also work with the Texas Business Law Foundation to make Texas’s corporate laws the strongest in the nation. Having an efficient business court and a clear and coherent commercial code will encourage businesses to headquarter, hire employees and succeed in Texas.
But to truly ensure that Texas remains the best place in the world to do business, the Texas Legislature needs to rein in abuses of the legal system that yield massive judgments in cases where the plaintiff suffered little or even no injury. These judgments cost every Texan, as businesses are forced to build the cost of defending these unnecessary lawsuits into higher prices of their products and services, lower wages for workers or both. TLR will work with the Lone Star Economic Alliance to advance common-sense reforms to end these abuses and restore fairness and transparency to the legal system.
For three decades, TLR has championed successful reforms to curb job-killing lawsuit abuses and make Texas courts a national model for fairness and efficiency. As we look to the future, we’re also reflecting on the journey that has brought us here:
A sampling of TLR’s Past Successes
- 2023: Creation of business trial courts and the Fifteenth Court of Appeals to enhance efficiency and specialization in Texas’ legal system.
- 2021: Shutting down abusive commercial vehicle litigation and securing pandemic-related liability protections for businesses and healthcare providers.
- 2017: Reforming weather-related litigation to stop “storm-chasing” lawyers from exploiting property owners after natural disasters.
- 2003: Passing the nation’s most sweeping tort reform legislation, including improvements to product liability, punitive damages and class action procedures.
- 2005: Leading the nation in ending the rampant abuses in asbestos and silica litigation.
- 1995: Supporting the Governor’s lawsuit reform agenda, laying the foundation for a fair and efficient legal system.
These milestones and many more have helped transform Texas into the best place to do business.
As the work on Texas’ 89th Legislative Session begins, we thank the members of the Legislature for their service to our state, and we look forward to working together to ensure Texas remains a leader in lawsuit reforms and economic innovation.
