AUSTIN, Texas, May 29, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Texans for Lawsuit Reform commended state lawmakers for their continued commitment to ending lawsuit abuse in Texas. In a constructive session for lawsuit reform, lawmakers closed a dangerous loophole in state venue law and rejected dozens of proposals to roll back groundbreaking lawsuit reforms enacted over the past decade that have boosted our economy and helped to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs for Texans.
"Thanks to the commitment of Texas lawmakers in this session, our state remains a national leader in the fight against lawsuit abuse," said TLR CEO and Chairman, Dick Weekley. "Legislators acted decisively to close a loophole in our venue law that was being exploited by a few lawyers to the detriment of the state's economically critical maritime industry. The new law will keep our waterways open for business and our economy flourishing, to the benefit of all Texas workers and consumers."
Weekley said TLR supporters from all over the state contacted their lawmakers during the legislative session to urge them to stand firm against lawsuit abuse and efforts by personal injury trial lawyers to reverse or weaken tort reforms. A broad coalition of business and professional groups committed to civil justice reform also worked together on a variety of issues during the session.
Weekley commended state leaders, including Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick, for protecting the state's economic vitality by continuing to make civil justice reform a priority.
"The fight against lawsuit abuse is far from over," Weekley said. "We monitored hundreds of bills during the legislative session that would have rolled back lawsuit reforms or created dangerous and unnecessary grounds to sue. We were successful in working with other interested groups to defeat those efforts. We will remain vigilant against those personal injury trial lawyers who persistently try to expand litigation in a nation that is already the most litigious in the world. Our state and our country cannot be competitive in the global economy if we continue to load our goods and services with a tort tax that does not burden the products of other countries."
Texans for Lawsuit Reform, the state's largest civil justice reform organization, is a bipartisan, volunteer-led coalition with more than 15,000 supporters residing in more than 757 Texas communities and representing 1,253 different businesses, professions and trades.
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