While our governor is vetoing medical malpractice legislation, Texas is taking a different approach to litigation. The latest National Review explains:
The state of Texas continues to wage war upon the plaintiffs’ bar: It has adopted a “loser pays” provision to discourage frivolous lawsuits. The lawyers howled about injustice, but the provision is narrowly tailored: If a plaintiff loses a motion to dismiss his claims, then he is responsible for the other side’s legal expenses. Which is to say, the loser pays only if his lawsuit is dimissed out of hand; if a case proceeds to full litigation, the provision does not apply. Under Gov. Rick Perry and a conservative legislature, Texas has insistently pushed back against the trial lawyers, most notably by capping non-economic damages in medical-malpractice cases and establishing a process to screen out meritless cases before they go to court. Texas’s legislature contains a greater proportion of lawyers than any other state legislature in the country, but even the lawyers understand that unwarranted lawsuits can be a substantial drag on the economy, particularly on small businesses, and that the tort system can be a source of injustice as well as a source of justice.
You might remember that Americans for Prosperity hosted an event in Raleigh this spring featuring Texas experts on medical malpractice reform.
