Tort Reform In Texas

Before 1975 Texas was considered to be a complete quagmire of judicial mumbo-jumbo. The state’s system of justice allowed for laws to be applied arbitrarily. Enforcement of personal property rights and contracts varied depending on which local court had the case. Moreover, several counties that had bad reputations notwithstanding the court. Judicial outcomes often depended on which attorney was before which judge in which county. Equal enforcement of the state’s laws was simply not a certainty upon which a citizen could rely. In the early most attempts at tort reform in the State of Texas, a well-respected University of Texas Law School professor was asked to spearhead a commission and make recommendations on how to fix the those judicial inequalities.
In order to stem the adverse effects of litigation on doctors, the Texas legislature passed its first tort reform law in 1977, establishing a cap on all medical malpractice damages except medical expenses. The Texas Supreme court, in 1988, found that they felt caps violated the Texas Constitution. Specifically the provision called “Open Courts”. This provision stipulates that only the courts shall be open to the public. Therefore, that first attempt at tort reform was pushed back again, and so from 1978 until 2003 the State of Texas was in a constant battle for tort reform in that state until in 2003 when, then governor, Rick Perry declared tort reform a State imperative and Medical Malpractice Act and Reform of 2003 was