Comments on: Survey of Texas judges

By: Walter E. Wallis

Walter E. Wallis — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 15:32:28 +0000

i still wish Arnold had pushed his idea of taxing away punitive damages at 85% OR SO.

By: Beldar

Beldar — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 22:20:15 +0000

Mea culpa. In reading further into the study, I see that the questions asked judges about cases they’ve seen tried in their own courtrooms. So whatever observations they may have about what’s going on elsewhere, in other courts, presumably wasn’t picked up by this study.

In the immortal words of Emily Litella: Never mind!

By: Beldar

Beldar — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 21:27:33 +0000

Ted, you’re correct that no judge is likely to see himself as contributing to lawsuit abuse, and to that extent, the survey pool is biased.

What you overlook is that judges pay attention not only to the results coming out of their own courtrooms, but out of the ones next door and around the state. They weigh what they see elsewhere against their own experience.

Right now in Dallas County, for example, you may have a mix of judges comprising Democrats who recently won election in 2004 and 2006 (after breaking a multi-year lock on Dallas County judicial seats by the Republican Party), sitting alongside some (lucky) Republican judges who were unopposed in 2006 and perhaps Republican judges appointed to vacancies by Texas Gov. Rick Perry. What one group perceives of the others’ courts might be very interesting indeed.

So it’s a distorted survey pool, but potentially a very knowledgeable one. Its results need to be considered with both of those factors in mind, but I wouldn’t dismiss the results of this out of hand.

By: Peter Nordberg

Peter Nordberg — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 13:39:03 +0000

“[T]he common-sense meaning of the word used by many politicians.”

Um . . .