The Texas House of Representatives recently advanced a bill that would make it more difficult to file a lawsuit regarding commercial vehicles.
House Bill 19 requires juries to be presented with evidence directly relevant to causation and injuries in a highway accident.
According to the trucking industry, the system incentivizes frivolous litigation and nuclear verdicts, and punishes all motor carriers regardless of their safety record, and harms insurance markets. The industry believes the system must be reformed.
In Texas, the trucking industry employs more than 734,820 jobs or one in 15 jobs.
The bill has the support of numerous organizations, including the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the Texas Trucking Association.
“With this significant vote, Texas joins a growing number of states committed to stopping rampant lawsuit abuse by enacting measured, targeted, and prudent reforms that restore balance and fairness to the civil justice system,” ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said. “For years, the plaintiffs’ bar has been perverting the civil justice system into a profit center to line their own pockets, leeching off a critical link in the supply chain and the livelihoods of honest and hardworking truckers in their pursuit of Jackpot Justice. But those days are now coming to an end.”
Other states have passed lawsuit abuse reforms.