Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse of Central Texas

Houston Business Journal
August 28, 2009

When politicians make showy displays of big plans to help people, but then push agendas that blatantly run counter to those promises, we’re right to feel betrayed. That’s exactly what’s going on in Washington, D.C., and it’s an extension of what some attempted here in Texas during the latest legislative session.

President Obama’s showy display took the form of a $787 billion taxpayer-funded stimulus package, heralded as the lifeboat for our sinking economy.

Why then — an astute taxpayer might ask — is the administration pushing measures that will directly undermine economic recovery by increasing consumer prices, expanding ways to sue, stifling access to health care and making small businesses vulnerable? This is certainly not the way to right a capsized ship.

It seems our leaders in Washington are only paying lip service to real economic recovery. Check out President Obama’s latest foray into double talk: At a recent meeting of the American Medical Association, Obama talked about overhauling our health care system and lowering costs for everyone.

He even told the doctors that “excessive defensive medicine,” conducted out of fear of lawsuits, should be limited.

In the next breath, Obama said he won’t support efforts to rein in one of the biggest health care cost drivers — runaway medical liability lawsuits. You can’t expand access to health care, keep doctors in the examining room and control costs while letting health care lawsuits spin out of control.

In more head-scratching news, President Obama took a breather from talk of job creation to sign a bill that will threaten jobs by targeting employers with ridiculous lawsuits. The new law creates a legal trap that can ensnare any organization that receives money from the feds.

Under the law, businesses of all sizes could face so-called “false claims” lawsuits for making an innocent paperwork mistake or misinterpreting a complicated regulation. The law perverts current, legitimate tools to combat intentional fraud against the government and establishes a definition of fraud that borders on the ridiculous. You can’t be in favor of job creation while planting lawsuit land mines for the employers who support those jobs.

Perhaps our friends in Washington would do well to look to Texas for examples of how to build and maintain a strong economy. Lawmakers here have wisely resisted relentless attempts by the personal injury bar to invent new ways to sue.

Texas is nationally renowned for its civil justice reforms, which are credited with helping the state fare better than other states in this economy. Common sense legal reforms in Texas have safeguarded thousands of jobs, welcomed new doctors, attracted capital investment and kept consumer prices in check. By and large, Texas leaders have served their constituents well by holding the line against efforts to roll back progress here.

On the other hand, our federal leaders should be ashamed to trumpet their efforts to “save us” while pursuing an agenda that erodes our nation’s economic foundation through expanded litigation. The two-faced maneuvering in Washington is nothing short of betrayal.

Bill Summers is the founder and president of Rio Grande Valley Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.