Texas enacted sweeping and somewhat radical tort reform in 2005 and after 5 years the verdict is clear. Texas consumers lose and insurance companies and foreign manufacturers win.
The tort reform bill sold to Texas as medical malpractice reform, has one clear result- record profits for the insurance companies.
Have Texas doctor’s malpractice rates dropped a dime- despite damage caps of $250,000? In a word-NO.
Rates for Texas medical providers have only gone up at record levels. A doctor comes in drunk and on drugs, cuts off the proverbial “wrong leg”- in Texas- the damages are capped the victim out of luck. As a result we no longer have legal professionals policing doctors and hospitals and the medical profession appears unwilling or incapable of policing their own.
False “facts” of tort reform benefits are still being made by the Texas tort reformers and other political commentators from out of state ( that’s my story and I am sticking to it defense). But the facts in Texas are clear-tort reform didn’t work for Texas citizens.
Now- defendants name as “responsible third parties” any possible person they can find no matter how remote to the accident, even John Does, employers or others immune from suit and persons in bankruptcy- which forces the Texas personal injury lawyer to bring some of those persons into the lawsuit- needlessly running up costs of litigation and leaving the innocent personal injury victim with out justice.
Wrongdoers, Texas drunk drivers, and even criminals get the benefit of a responsible Texas citizen’s purchasing and paying for insurance coverage for themselves.
Lost wages are now awarded net of income taxes; however, once the award is made and reduced for income taxes, the person has to actually PAY taxes on the reduced amount. In effect, Texans injured through no fault of their own now receive pennies on the lost wage dollar even when the victim of a criminal.
Product manufacturers from Japan, China, and Korea and around the world get absolute immunity from lawsuits by Texans injured and killed by dangerous products, once the product is 15 years old. Legal hurdles are now so high that victims of a dangerous product have trouble getting representation by Texas personal injury lawyers except in the most serious injury or wrongful death case. Texans who are catastrophically injured in an accident through no fault of there own and who have no available insurance or inadequate insurance are now the responsibility of tax payers- not the foreign companies that knowingly profited from the dangerous product.
Record profits for the companies selling insurance in Texas- with the loser being the Texas public. Many politicians supporting such ‘reform” got big bucks (campaign contributions) from insurance companies, defense interests, and large companies- the winners here are political interests and insurers but the Texas consumer, who after 5 years, is clearly the loser.
Texas tort reform the model for the rest of the country?
Not a chance, if people look at the actual results-consumers lose and insurance companies pocket record profits- but you never know about that corporate insurance company campaign contribution and the false promises and sound bites of politics that go with a bill of goods.
Is justice in America for sale?- lets hope, not again.
