From the Dallas Business Journal:
New tort reform law already creating a rush to file lawsuits
It may also be creating a more adaptable approach to litigation -- and more work for Metroplex lawyers.
By William Hoffman
GREATER METROPLEX -- Last month, attorney Brad Parker investigated the medical malpractice case of a retirement-age woman who died after an alleged overdose of Demerol.
Because she'd been on disability, there was no loss of earning capacity and thus limited opportunity to claim economic damages. Parker declined the case.
Had he been handed the same case after the Texas Legislature passed and Gov. Rick Perry signed the state's new tort reform law June 11, Parker said he wouldn't even have investigated.
"Given the new reform, I don't think I could even justify taking the cases I have taken," said Parker, a Bedford-based solo practitioner who started reducing his medical malpractice caseload several years ago.
Now he's getting out for good. "The most recent round of (tort) reform just sealed that in my mind," he said.
Tort reform advocates are hailing the passage of HB 4, the most sweeping civil justice changes in Texas since 1995. "We have balanced the scales of justice in Texas so that they no longer tilt toward either the defendant or the plaintiff," said Ken Hoagland, a spokesman for Texans for Lawsuit Reform in Houston.
Frederick E. "Shad" Rowe, general partner for Dallas-based investment firm Greenbrier Partners Ltd., said, "I'm not a lawyer, but to lawyers this is a big deal what happened."
Rowe said he expects the new law's legal process shortcuts, limits on class action lawsuits and encouragement for tort claimants to settle early will "make business life a little more sanguine, maybe."
Whatever impact Texas' latest round of tort reforms have on huge damage awards, protracted litigation processes and frivolous lawsuits, another question is emerging: What will the new law's effect be on Dallas-Fort Worth tort lawyers and law firms?
Initial impressions
The new law's first effect is already being felt.
Attorneys are rushing to file suit before a July 1 deadline caps noneconomic damage awards, says Earl Martin, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in Fort Worth.
The $250,000-per-defendant limit on so-called "pain and suffering" awards "can't help but have a dampening effect on those who are considering pursuing that type of practice, and on the willingness of lawyers to take those cases to begin with," Martin added.
However, Martin said he'd be surprised to see law-school enrollments decline in response to the new law.
Maxine Harrington, a 20-year veteran defense attorney joining Wesleyan as an associate professor of law this fall, added, "I still think there will be a lot of lawsuits filed, and I don't think the number will fall off that substantially."
Indeed, area attorneys surveyed at random predicted little effect on the size or composition of the local legal industry as a result of the new law.
"It's like any market," said Mike Tankersley, partner in charge of corporate practice in North Texas for Bracewell & Patterson L.L.P. in Dallas. "There are guys in the mainstream that will always be busy, and there are marginal players. And the marginal players are the ones that will tend to get pushed out."
Full text:
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