In 2003, Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment that allowed state legislators to cap pain and suffering awards in medical malpractice lawsuits at extremely low levels. The insurance industry lobbied heavily for the measure, helping to promote a false vision of Texas as a “judicial hellhole,” where doctors were fleeing the state over an “epidemic” of frivolous lawsuits. Since then, malpractice lawsuits have plummeted.
Now, though, the insurance industry is wondering if its campaign worked too well—not because malpractice victims can’t get justice (which they can’t) but because tort reform is cutting into insurance company profits. Defense lawyer Gary Schumann told a group of insurance execs recently that tort reform had worked so well in Texas that judges were trying cases that might otherwise go to mediation just to stay busy. Not only that, but Texas nursing homes (among the worst in the nation) have become so unconcerned about getting sued that many have stopped buying private liability insurance.
Schumann said he was worried about the industry’s future. “We want a little bit of litigation out there, don’t we? We want a little bit of risk. We need risk or we’re all out of business. … We’ll see what happens but tort reform has worked. I just hope for all of our sakes it hasn’t worked too well.”
