Special Reports

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever did.”
–Margaret Mead

Abusive litigation has prevailed in this country so long that many in the business world have come to regard it as all but inevitable.

Texans for Lawsuit Reform is committed to helping our friends and neighbors deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. We hope the information provided on this page will help you with some aspects of your recovery from the storm.

Storm chasing by lawyers is the worst lawsuit abuse Texans have confronted since asbestos litigation, which finally ended when the Legislature enacted SB 15 in 2005. The storm-chasing lawyers have filed at least 36,000 cases since 2012, naming at least one innocent individual as a co-defendant in over 14,000 of those cases.

If TWIA is allowed to continue operating the way it operates today and if a small group of lawyers is allowed to continue to unduly inflate claim amounts and extract tens or hundreds of millions of dollars from the process for their personal benefit, future hurricanes that hit the Texas coast— particularly a category 4 or 5 storm—could cost Texas citizens billions.

The U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform’s 2012 State Liability Systems Survey, entitled “Lawsuit Climate,” explores how fair and reasonable the states’ tort liability systems are perceived to be by U.S. businesses.

Texans for Public Justice (TPJ) bills itself as an independent, non-partisan, watchdog group dedicated to exposing a system of financial contributions that it says is corrupting Texas politics. In fact, TPJ is nothing that it claims to be.

Campaign finance is an important part of Texas politics. Individuals and political action committees (PACs) contribute significant sums of money to Texas political campaigns.

Counties across the state are seeing a spike in litigation after hailstorms, thanks to a few storm-chasing lawyers and their mass-tort model. These lawyers are talking homeowners into filing unnecessary lawsuits against their insurance companies, promising a big payout at no cost.

The lawsuit industry has found an ardent new defender in the November issue of Texas Monthly. In an article titled “Hurt? Injured? Need a Lawyer? Too Bad!” the magazine disparages the tort reform movement, the business community, the Texas Legislature, the Texas Supreme Court, and, above all, Texans for Lawsuit Reform.

In its November issue, Texas Monthly published an article by Mimi Swartz entitled “Hurt? Injured? Need a Lawyer? Too Bad!” The article takes the viewpoint that Texans for Lawsuit Reform has single-handedly manipulated the tort system in Texas to deprive injured Texans of their day in court.