The Texas Tort “Accomplishments” of George W. Bush
Friday, March 13th, 2009
Barbara O’Brien
March 13, 2009
Well-funded interest groups push “tort reform” as a means to spur economic growth, create jobs and lower health care costs. In the last two posts I showed how that last claim, about lower health care costs, is plainly bogus. Now let’s look at the other claims.
Texas gives us a good example. In 1995, then-Governor George W. Bush signed into law several measures that changed the rules for lawsuits in Texas. Hailed as a model for “tort reform,” the Texas laws capped punitive damages and raised the level of proof plaintiffs had to present to win damages.
“Tort reform” lobbying groups to this day tout the economic growth in Texas in the late 1990s as proof that the measures helped the economy. Of course, most of the other 49 states enjoyed a robust economy in the late 1990s, also, and without changing tort laws.
There are other extravagant claims that Texas consumers benefited somehow. Although corporations clearly benefited from the measures, it’s not so clear those benefits actually translated into lower prices for consumers.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, Governor Bush claimed his tort reform measure as one of the finest accomplishments as governor. Richard A. Oppel and Jim Yardly wrote in the New York Times (“Bush Calls Himself Reformer; the Record Shows the Label May Be a Stretch,” March 20,2000) that the benefits that allegedly came about because of tort reform, such as lower auto insurance rates, could all be traced to other causes.
What we do know is that Texas citizens have fewer rights. And the tort reform measures did nothing to prevent the causes of legal claims. Workplaces and products are no safer. The only difference is that injured people, including mesothelioma patients, have less consideration under the law than before.
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