Texas study debunks arguments for “tort reform”

We’ve never said there weren’t abuses on both sides of the tort system, or that there wasn’t room for improvement, but a lot of the “crisis” arguments for trashing the civil justice system seemed clearly overstated insurance industry propaganda. Now, a study of Texas Department of Insurance records dating back to 1988 debunks the argument that medical costs were soaring because of too many malpractice lawsuits. “We find no evidence of the medical malpractice crisis that produced headlines over the last several years and led to legal reform in Texas and other states,” said the study, conducted by law professors at the University of Texas, University of Illinois and Columbia University law schools. The only thing that jumped, they said, was the cost of malpractice insurance, which rose 135 percent from 1999 to 2003 likely because of financial pressures that had nothing to do with litigation. See article.

The Shigley Law Firm represents plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases statewide in Georgia, and in other states subject to the multijurisdictional practice and pro hac vice rules in each state. Ken Shigley was designated as a “SuperLawyer” in Atlanta Magazine and one of the “Legal Elite” in Georgia Trend Magazine. He is a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, Chair of the Southeastern Motor Carrier Liability Institute and former chair of the Georgia Insurance Law Institute. He particularly focuses on cases arising from truck wrecks and accidents (tractor trailers truck wrecks, semi truck wrecks,18 wheeler truck wrecks, big rig truck wrecks, log truck wrecks, dump truck wrecks).