News
Kilgore Rotary learns about ETALA
Diane Davis of East Texans Against Lawsuit Abuse spoke to the Kilgore Rotary Club on Wednesday, telling Rotarians that because of the support of people like them the number of frivolous lawsuits in Texas has decreased significantly.
Davis, who has been with the group since its inception in Kilgore in 1992, said the road has been a good one for ETALA as far as its work is concerned.
“We started strong and united and we have added a good number of supporters over the years,” she said.
ETALA was the brainchild of Kilgoreite Ruben Martin back in 1992, and Kilgore joined the nationwide organization to form the East Texas chapter. The program took off from the very beginning, gaining support from a host of business groups around the Kilgore, Longview and Tyler area, and it has remained strong and viable ever since.
'Ambulance Chasing' on the Rise in Texas
From www.setexasrecord.com, September 29, 2009
HOUSTON - Unscrupulous ambulance chasing tactics by personal injury lawyers are on the rise in Texas, says a state legal watchdog group.
According to a press release from Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, some parts of the state in particular are facing a resurgence in the illegal practice of barratry, commonly known as "ambulance chasing."
"Unfortunately, the Valley is again playing a starring role in abusive litigation," said Bill Summers, founder and president of the Rio Grande Valley Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. "We've been called out as an area where barratry is 'flourishing.' It's another tactic of aggressive personal injury lawyers and anyone approached in this offensive manner should report it to the State Bar of Texas."
Plaintiff Paradise
From www.forbes.com, September 7, 2009
Corporate lawyers hate the infamous patent courts of East Texas - until they want to sue somebody.
Juries in the Longhorn State have a reputation for being generous with other people's money. But even by Texas standards, the verdict against Illinois drugmaker Abbott Laboratories this June was a whopper. After a four-day trial a jury in the tiny city of Marshall ordered Abbott to pay $1.7 billion.
Malpractice Reform a Double-Edged Sword
From www.abcnews.go.com, August 20, 2009
For Some Patients, Malpractice Reform Presents Hurdle to Compensation
It was supposed to be a 15-minute colonoscopy at a local clinic, but it turned into the nightmare of Michael Washington's life. There was nothing unusual about the procedure, and even his wife Josephine, a registered nurse, had no cause to worry. But after two months of severe cramps, discolored eyes, and emaciation, Washington, a-70 year-old retired Air Force veteran, went to see an internal medicine doctor who told him that he had contracted an active case of Hepatitis C.
Judicial Hellholes Report
From www.ATRA.org, 2008
The American Tort Reform Association recently issued its annual report highlighting judicial hellholes around the nation. Judicial Hellholes are places where judges systematically apply laws and court procedures in an inequitable manner, generally against defendants in civil lawsuits. In this seventh annual report, ATRF shines its brightest spotlight on seven areas of the country that have developed reputations for uneven justice.
ATRA Welcomes R.I. Supreme Court's 'Lead Paint' Reversal
From www.ATRA.org, July 01, 2008
The American Tort Reform Association today heralded the Rhode Island Supreme Court’s unanimous decision against the state and its former attorney general in an appeal of their multibillion-dollar lawsuit against companies that made lead paint decades ago.
'Vegetable-Chasing' Lawyers Cooking Up Tomato Suits Before Facts Are Known
From www.ATRA.org, June 11, 2008
Though breaking news of salmonella-tainted tomatoes is barely two days old, and despite the fact that the Food and Drug Administration is still searching for the cause or causes of these reported contaminations, “America’s personal injury lawyers have already deployed misleading Web pages in an effort to cook up future lawsuits,” a spokesman for the American Tort Reform Association noted today.
ATRA Lauds High Court's Unanimous 'False Claims' Decision
From www.ATRA.org, June 09, 2008
In welcoming today’s unanimous Supreme Court decision in an important False Claims Act case, American Tort Reform Association president Tiger Joyce said “it appropriately limits the federal statute’s scope to acts by those who defraud the U.S. Treasury, keeping the law from morphing – as the plaintiffs’ bar and some of their allies in Congress would prefer – into a catch-all for virtually all civil disputes.”
Weiss Sentencing Prompts ATRA to Again Press Congress for Hearings Into Potentially Widespread Trial Lawyer Misconduct
From www.ATRA.org, June 02, 2008
With former securities class-action lawyer Melvyn Weiss today being sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, American Tort Reform Association president Tiger Joyce renewed his call on Congress to investigate “what may be widespread misconduct by the plaintiff’s bar that undermines the rule of law and imposes a drag on our economy.”
The Annual Boardroom Guide to
Litigation in 50 States
From www.TALA.com, July, 2007
Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus believes that the biggest competitors for capital that business has are America’s plaintiff trial lawyers. They siphon off billions of dollars that would be invested in R&D, growth, and jobs creation, or would be returned to shareholders. Trial lawyers also increase the cost of capital for those companies whose ratings are downgraded as a direct result of trial lawyer briefings to financial analysts or press conferences about their litigation portfolios—all part of the trial bar’s new business model.
Jackpot Justice: The True Cost of America's Tort System
From www.TALA.com, July, 2007
A recent study by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) has calculated that the U.S. tort system costs $865 billion annually. This staggering number translates to $9,827 for a family of four and is equivalent to the total yearly sales of the entire U.S. restaurant industry. The report also finds that the practice of “defensive medicine” by physicians fearing litigation increases health care costs by $124 billion per year. This new comprehensive examination of U.S. tort costs calculates both the direct and the indirect costs of America’s legal system.
Institute for Legal Reform/Harris Poll
From www.instituteforlegalreform.com, 2007
A recent study conducted for the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform ranked the 50 states based on how fair and balanced their court systems and judges are perceived to be. Texas ranked 41st out of 50 states. To learn more about the Texas' rankings visit: www.instituteforlegalreform.com or click the link below to view the full report.
