Friends,
Early voting ends today — still plenty of time to cast your ballot before polls close at 7 p.m. tonight. And Election Day — Tuesday, November 3 — is always there for those who prefer to vote with everyone else in America.
This week’s message, however, is for folks you may know who aren’t interested in voting (click here to forward this email to them). They’re registered and have the time, but haven’t seen a solid reason to show up and exercise their right to choose who represents them in Congress, the Texas Legislature, and in local elected offices. Here’s a reason that may get their attention: the strength of your paycheck depends on electing quality leaders.
Not sure how? A recent study by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform found Americans pay the highest lawsuit costs of any major economy it examined: an estimated $579 billion in 2023, or 2.15% of the entire U.S. economy. That’s nearly double the next-highest country, the U.K.
And the bill is growing fast. From 2014 to 2023, U.S. lawsuit costs grew by an average of 10.4% a year, double the economy’s average growth of 5.2%. That economy is what funds everyone’s paycheck. That much lawsuit abuse is not sustainable–but the people you elect can change this trajectory.
As the affordability question continues to ring in voters’ minds, this week TLR breaks down exactly how lawsuit abuse is raising costs for groceries, insurance, health care, and more. More importantly, we’re reminding all eligible voters they can do something right now to get Texas back on track: elect quality leaders who support reforms that will stop the abuse and repeal the hidden tort tax.
Ryan Patrick
CEO | TLR
Lawsuit Abuse Is Driving Up The Cost of ‘Free Shipping’
Free shipping sounds enticing, but those shipping costs are baked into the sales price. And even when you go to the store to buy a loaf of bread, pick up prescriptions, or buy other common items, a hidden tort tax is baked into those prices, too.
A new report from the Institute for Legal Reform highlights how the rising prevalence of outsized verdicts, particularly those targeting businesses that use delivery trucks, is increasing costs for the most basic items. But how does the lawsuit go from the courtroom to the checkout line?
72% of everything shipped in America by value travels by truck.
Shipping costs (regardless of the marketing, you’re paying for it) can account for as much as 14% of a product’s cost.
Transportation services keep only about 5 to 15 cents of every dollar they earn, so they pass surprise bills on to shoppers.
Real-world examples: In July, a Dallas County jury awarded a $604 million verdict against the middleman who arranged one shipment. Post-trial motions and appeals are pending, but the costs of that lawsuit are already baked into the services and prices you pay at checkout currently.
Note: An overturned verdict does not erase the costs of fighting a lawsuit or securing the appeal. Those costs are now baked into the price of shipping just about every good because companies, including middlemen, must price in the risk of future lawsuits.
Lawsuit Abuse is Killing Thousands of Texas Jobs Each Year
Lawsuit abuse is costing Texans quality jobs and draining around $2.2 billion in household income, based on 2025 data. An economic study released last month highlighted the top-line costs of unchecked lawsuit abuse in Texas:
27,785 jobs lost in 2025. These industries were hit the hardest:
Retail and restaurants: 9,798 jobs lost
Salons and repair shops: 3,329 jobs lost
Finance and real estate: 2,471 jobs lost
Health care: 2,448 jobs lost
Manufacturing: 2,305 jobs lost.
Here’s the real kicker: prices keep rising while paychecks lose their strength. However, Texas is still the nation’s leading job creator (led the nation in the October jobs report), creating 154,300 jobs over the past 12 months.
But as lawsuit abuse grows, certain job creators will look to other states to headquarter and operate. Those jobs support families and communities. When jobs leave, so does the community support and the economy that is built around major industries. The growing costs of lawsuit abuse don’t stop at the verdict. Jobs. Wages. Innovation, too, gets sacrificed. That’s only if a business can keep going after an outsized verdict raises costs, which get passed down to customers.
Sales Tax in Texas is around 8.25%; the Hidden Tort Tax is adding 15.25% to Your Insurance Costs
In 2025, the ongoing rapid rise in home insurance premiums shocked most Texans. S&P Global showed a 55% increase from 2019 to 2024. Texas lawmakers almost delivered a solution, but fell short at the finish line. Premiums continued to increase. Meanwhile, reforms passed in Florida in 2022 and 2023 gave ratepayers $3 billion in new savings, rebates, rate cuts, and more in 2025.
How much does lawsuit abuse impact your insurance bill? According to the Perryman Group, the hidden tort tax is adding 15.25% to your insurance bill. Because Texas leads in outsized verdicts, costs are climbing through rate increases and reduced coverage for individuals, families, and employers. The Institute for Legal Reform adds some more data to consider:
Accidents are down. Fewer truck-crash claims are good, but the average cost per claim has increased 93.5%. Those increases get spread around to other ratepayers.
Liability premiums for trucking companies rose 37.8% from 2015 to 2024, more than 4x faster than inflation.
End result: Some insurers are leaving the market, reducing competition and increasing costs. As noted above, when delivery companies’ costs rise, those costs get added to the price you pay at checkout.
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EARLY VOTING Ends on Friday, October 30
ELECTION DAY Tuesday, November 3
