Texas gets loser pays tort reform

Texas State CapitolImage via Wikipedia
Stephen DeMaura:

Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas state legislature want the rest of the country to hear this message loud and clear: The Lone Star State is open for business.

In a unanimous vote last week, the Texas senate adopted ‘loser pays’ tort-reform legislation, which says that a plaintiff must pay the winning party’s legal fees if their complaint is judged to be groundless. On Wednesday, the Texas house concurred. Governor Perry, who had championed the legislation from its inception, signed it Monday night.

The Wall Street Journal editorialized, “This Texas upgrade will build on reforms in 2003 and 2005 that have vastly improved the legal climate in what has not coincidentally become the country’s best state for job creation. Texas rewrote everything from class-action certification to product liability” — and I would add the state’s medical-malpractice reforms to that list.

No wonder the nation’s CEOs list Texas as the best state for business.

...
This is another example of how Texas is leading the nation in creating a business climate where predatory trial lawyers are reined in. Tort reform is why not only business, but doctors are coming to Texas.  Tort reform has dramatically lowered the cost of malpractice insurance.

The trial lawyers spent about $15 million to defeat Perry and other Republicans. They may not have that much to spend next time.
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