“Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this.”

(Houston, TX)  Texans for Lawsuit Reform again honors the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, for his strong stand against lawsuit abuse. Lincoln’s admonition to “never stir up litigation…” continues to resonate today as we review recent reports that personal injury trial lawyers spent $892 million last year on advertising, most of which is, in fact, designed to “stir up litigation.”

Always counted among our greatest and most visionary presidents, Lincoln saw more than a hundred-fifty years ago that lawsuit abuse was detrimental, not only to the legal profession, but to America as a whole.

In his “Notes on a Law Lecture,” written on July 1, 1850, Lincoln said:

Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this. Who can be more nearly a fiend than he who habitually overhauls the register of deeds in search of defects in titles, whereon to stir up strife, and put money in his pocket? A moral tone ought to be infused into the profession which should drive such men out of it.

Lincoln’s complete “Notes on a Law Lecture” can be found at: http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/lawlect.htm

Texans for Lawsuit Reform, the state’s largest civil justice reform organization, is a bipartisan, volunteer-led coalition with more than 17,000 supporters residing in more than 869 Texas communities and representing 1,253 different businesses, professions and trades. For more information, visit tortreformcstg.wpengine.com.