AUSTIN—Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR) today issued the following statement regarding its efforts to end abusive lawsuits against commercial vehicle owners. Senate Bill 17 (which has been reserved by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick) and House Bill 19 will provide for consistency and uniformity in how trial courts handle commercial vehicle cases. Senate Bill 207 and House Bill 1617 are aimed at ending trial lawyer manipulation of Texas’ 2003 statute governing the submission of medical bills to a jury in a civil trial.

“Abusive commercial vehicle lawsuits are built on presenting misleading evidence to the jury—whether inflated medical bills or prejudicial evidence about a commercial vehicle operator’s conduct. We cannot expect juries to arrive at a fair decision when given misleading, extraneous and purposely prejudicial information” TLR General Counsel Lee Parsley said. “The Texas Legislature must clarify the rules for how commercial vehicle lawsuits are tried to ensure juries have the facts necessary to award fair compensation to Texans who are injured by the negligence of a defendant, that these cases are tried in a uniform and consistent manner throughout the state, and that our courtrooms are fair for all parties. We commend Lt. Gov. Patrick and Speaker Phelan for making these bills priority items, and look forward to working with all stakeholders to fix this problem this session.”