Friends,
It’s another big week in Texas business news with ExxonMobil announcing it wants to go all-in on the Lone Star State. The predecessor to ExxonMobil, Standard Oil Co., was incorporated in New Jersey in 1882. Although the company has been headquartered in northwest Houston since 1989, it has not changed its site of incorporation in 143 years. But ExxonMobil has now announced plans to move its official corporate domicile from New Jersey to Texas, pending shareholder approval.
“Over the past several years, Texas has made a noticeable effort to embrace the business community. In doing so, it has created a policy and regulatory environment that can allow the company to maximize shareholder value,” said Darren Woods, ExxonMobil chairman and chief executive officer.
Click here to read more about the move.
More than 30 years ago, TLR was created to make Texas the best state to do business. After three decades of work, the Texas Economic Miracle is thriving and our state’s policies have attracted more and more businesses. The newly created Business Courts are taking the next step by providing the legal foundation for more predictable outcomes in lawsuits.
On a recent podcast, investor and entrepreneur Joe Lonsdale talked about the key components that attract employers and make Texas a great state to do business. When he made the move from California to Texas in 2020, he made clear that it was the policies in place that drove the decision.
“My firm has a motto: ‘“The world is broken, let’s fix it.’ We invest in technologies and people who will transform major industries and improve the lives of millions. It’s tragic that California is no longer hospitable to that mission, but beautiful that Texas is. Our job as entrepreneurs and investors is to build the future, and I know of no better place to do so than Texas,” Lonsdale wrote in a 2020 Wall Street Journal editorial.
At the same time, Lonsdale recognizes the ongoing threats posed by the billboard lawyer lobby.
Texas’s success was not luck; it was hard work, and that work continues today. We’ve already seen the consequences in Virginia of failing to protect fair courts. Meanwhile, other states like New York and California are rushing to catch up to tort measures that Texas already passed. We must keep Texas the vanguard of innovation by protecting courts and preventing lawsuit abuse.
“A measurable outcome of recent reforms to the Florida civil justice system has been a reduction in the cost of home and auto insurance and greater competition in the market.” That’s another definitive endorsement for tort reform efforts in Florida, as a new study highlights a 14.5% decrease in property and casualty insurance costs.
The Perryman Group estimates Florida’s employers saw a $4.2 billion increase in economic activity and generated 29,370 jobs. One of the biggest beneficiaries is everyday retail shops that provide basic goods and services. All from common-sense tort reform measures. Click here to read the full report.
Last week, a federal trial in Louisiana began with federal prosecutors laying out a case of “greed, insurance fraud, and the exploitation of the legal system.” Two attorneys stand trial for their alleged role in paying adults and children to participate in staged accidents targeting 18-wheelers in New Orleans. One of the lawyers already convicted for his part in the scheme testified about the codes used and the extent of the fraudulent cases.
Patrick Danny Keating, a former attorney who pleaded guilty for his role in the staged wrecks scheme, testified that he participated in the operation from 2017 to 2020. … [The convicted attorney] testified that he knowingly helped stage accidents, filed fraudulent lawsuits, and participated in at least 100–120 crashes, keeping large amounts of cash at home to pay people involved.
Now that the trial has begun, details are emerging about the decade-long scheme involving lawyers, paid scammers, and the businesses they used to fund frivolous lawsuits, raking in millions. Additional details of “Operation Sideswipe” are also revealed in a recently released documentary, “Jackpot Justice,” in which one of the truckers who was a victim of a staged accident shares their encounter.
