As election season approaches, and the big dispute so far is whether one candidate for governor can be on the ballot as “Grandma,” we want to remind our clients and future clients that one of the most important political issues to them might be tort reform.
In October of last year, Mimi Swartz, of Texas Monthly, wrote an article detailing the tort reform process of the last legislative session. In Hurt? Injured? Need a Lawyer? Too Bad!, Ms Swartz described the results of the process:
Once upon a time, the purpose of tort law was to make injured people whole. In Texas, victims of medical malpractice or corporate wrongdoing, no matter how poor or powerless, had some redress through the legal system. The Texas constitution plainly states that “all courts shall be open” and that every injured person “shall have remedy by due course of law.” But through the efforts of a small group of wealthy and politically influential businessmen and a legislature slavishly devoted to the organization they founded, Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR), those days are gone, and these rights may disappear across the nation as President Bush pushes his campaign against “greedy trial lawyers” and “frivolous lawsuits.”
Ms. Swartz’ article recently won the John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
As November elections approach, we ask you to consider the potential effects of the continued erosion of your rights under the civil justice system.
