Comments on: Texas: serious litigation reform, serious results

By: Ron Miller

Ron Miller — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 14:37:37 +0000

Let’s not confuse correlation with causation, This explains the rise of the economy in Texas. http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/oil-gas/research-and-statistics/production-data/texas-monthly-oil-gas-production/

But no one has ever suggested caps on damages don’t help insurance companies and business. The key is whether justice is being advanced by these laws.

By: Curmudgeonly Ex-Clerk

Curmudgeonly Ex-Clerk — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 18:20:15 +0000

In response to Allan and Walter’s exchange, I’d point out a key difference between then and now: Texas tort reform almost exclusively came from the legislature. The courts undoubtedly have made some common-law rulings unfavorable to the plaintiff’s bar since the 1980s, but the sea change in Texas tort law has originated with the political branches of government. So I don’t think that Allan’s claim that “the Texas courts are bought and paid for, as they always have been” holds up to scrutiny, at least not on the basis that he made it. There’s less common law and a lot more statutory law than there once was in the field of torts, and the courts are really constrained by the legislature to a significant extent. One could argue that the courts are being purchased indirectly by businessman by way of the legislature; but, that’s a much harder case to make, because it’s harder to credibly argue that Texas’s legislature is out of step with the people it represents.

By: Hugo S Cunningham

Hugo S Cunningham — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 17:21:56 +0000

An untouched corner of Texas injustice is the Federal District of East Texas, America’s most notorious venue of patent trolls. The State courts there can also be quite crazy: google “Mineola swingers case”.

By: Allan

Allan — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 15:44:03 +0000

In reply to Walter Olson.

So. Trial lawyers paying for justice to line their pockets is bad. Businessmen paying for justice to keep their pockets lined is good.

Machiavelli would be so proud. (That is not to say that Machievelli was wrong).

I do not know if the corruption today is as bad as it was in the 1980s. Certainly, it does not appear so on its face.

By: Walter Olson

Walter Olson — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 14:49:10 +0000

In reply to Allan. If I were to claim that the Texas court today had a corruption problem as bad as in the 1980s, I might want to back that serious charge up with examples as compelling as those Kathleen Hunker gives about the earlier court. Otherwise people might think I was talking through my hat.

By: Allan

Allan — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 14:06:38 +0000

Make no mistake, the Texas courts are bought and paid for, as they always have been. There are only two relevant question.

1. Which side is ponying up the money?
2. Is the winning bidder’s point of view the better one for society?

I don’t have the answer to the second question. I leave that up to experts like Mr. Olson.

This is another example of how the Texas political system is Machiavellism at its finest.