Setting the Record Straight: Hubris
CLAIM: Tort reform is done and TLR has changed its mission to stay relevant.
FACT: Personal injury trial lawyers have argued for years that “tort reform is done.” The fact that a self-proclaimed conservative group is now parroting the personal injury bar’s messaging is shocking and ignorant of the real problems Texas job creators—particularly small businesses—face from abusive lawsuits.
TLR supports Democratic chairs in the Texas House.
This is simply false.Texas Scorecard’s claim is pure hearsay, unsupported by a named source aside from their own staffer.
TLR has always been respectful of the Republican presiding officers in the Senate and House and has never taken a position on their management of the legislative chambers.
Tort reform is done and TLR has changed its mission to stay relevant.
Personal injury trial lawyers have argued for years that “tort reform is done.” The fact that a self-proclaimed conservative group is now parroting the personal injury bar’s messaging is shocking and ignorant of the real problems Texas job creators face—particularly small businesses.
TLR continues to focus on its mission of keeping Texas’ legal system fair and efficient, and shutting down abusive lawsuits whenever and wherever they occur. TLR has passed important reforms to fix abuses of our legal system and make our courts more efficient in nearly every legislative session since our creation—most recently with the creation of Texas’ business court and 15th Court of Appeals, which had been priorities for Gov. Abbott and Attorney General Paxton, respectively.
Those who think tort reform is over should ask the owner of a commercial vehicle—whether a pickup used by pool-servicing company, a florist delivery van, a last-mile delivery truck, or a fleet of 18-wheelers—if more tort reform is needed. They will tell you that skyrocketing litigation and inflated settlements and verdicts have driven their liability insurance rates to increase at an unsustainable rate for several years and they have been forced to raise prices just to stay in business. Today, consumers are paying a tort tax in Texas because of litigation abuse in commercial vehicle litigation.
TLR opposes important conservative priorities in the Legislature.
Regardless of the issue, we understand that lawmakers want to ensure their legislation is effectively enforced to achieve a specific purpose. To that end, TLR regularly advises lawmakers on the most effective and appropriate enforcement mechanisms to achieve those goals without introducing new, unnecessary or unreasonably expansive causes of action.
Source: Republican Party of Texas Press Release
For example, TLR was consulted ahead of session on a measure to protect children from gender modification procedures. Our suggestion was that—if the goal of the bill was to prevent the procedures from happening in the first place—enforcement needed to occur on the front end rather than years after the fact in the form of a lawsuit. We suggested: (1) banning the procedure, (2) creating a right to an injunction to prevent the procedure from happening, (3) making it a crime to conduct such a procedure, and (4) revoking a doctor’s license when the doctor engages in the procedure. Those recommendations were largely accepted, and TLR had no further engagement on the bill, which passed the Legislature, was signed into law by the governor, and is the “law of the land” today in Texas.
TLR orchestrated the impeachment of Ken Paxton.
TLR does not take policy positions for or against issues unrelated to the state’s civil justice system. Again, Texas Scorecard relies on pure hearsay to lob this allegation, unsupported by named sources at the Capitol aside from their own paid staffers.
As we have maintained from the beginning, TLR had nothing to do with the House investigation or impeachment of Ken Paxton. Not a single piece of evidence of any kind was ever produced by Paxton or his legal team showing that TLR or any of its personnel knew anything about the impeachment before it happened—because no such evidence exists.
No one associated with TLR knew about the House General Investigating Committee’s investigation of Paxton until the public hearing on May 24, 2023. The committee made clear the investigation was triggered by Paxton’s appropriation request for $3 million to settle the lawsuit by several of his senior staff, who reported him to law enforcement for abuse of office.
