-Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Each legislative session is alike – and unique in its own way. This session is more unique than most. A slow, eerie start because of the pandemic and extra security due to the January breach at the U.S. Capitol produced a Texas Capitol that was empty and quiet rather than crowded and bustling, as is usual during session. And there is only one operational entrance rather than four, with heavily armed national guardsmen and DPS officers everywhere. Things are getting somewhat back to normal now, but only somewhat.
What is similar – and all too normal – is the extensive work necessary to pass essential tort reform legislation in the face of intense opposition by the wealthy and politically powerful personal injury trial lawyers. In this session, TLR is a leader of a coalition of over 80 trade and business associations and more than 400 individual businesses – from large public companies like AT&T and UPS to small family businesses struggling to survive the tsunami of litigation against commercial vehicles of all types and sizes. That litigation is conducted through ubiquitous advertising by personal injury trial lawyers, their soliciting agents, and a collaborative group of medical providers who create inflated medical expenses from even the slightest fender bender involving a commercial vehicle. Whether it be an eighteen-wheeler, the van of your local repairman, or the pickup truck of your landscaper, all are a target of this litigation.