(Austin, TX)  Texans for Lawsuit Reform issued the following statement today regarding the trial lawyer group, Texas Watch.   

“Texas Watch is not a public interest consumer watchdog, they are a trial lawyer front group that is fighting lawsuit reforms that will help protect homeowners’ access to affordable insurance policies in Texas,” said TLR spokesperson, Sherry Sylvester.

“Texas Watch is using distortion and misinformation to protect the storm-chasing trial lawyers who have manufactured an avalanche of hailstorm lawsuits across Texas for the purpose of generating legal fees.  These abusive lawsuits will disrupt the insurance market in Texas, which will result in less competition, higher deductibles, higher premiums and limited coverage.

“Storm-chasing trial lawyers are following the same model that left the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) virtually bankrupt following Hurricane Ike.  Unscrupulous attorneys go from hailstorm to hailstorm trolling for clients using massive advertising campaigns – TV, billboards, direct mail, and door-to-door solicitation – to push homeowners to file lawsuits even after their initial claims have been paid.”

Texas Watch is a leading opponent of legislation sponsored by Senator Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, (SB 1628) and Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, (HB 3646) that would rein in storm-chasing lawsuit abuse.  This is only the latest in Texas Watch’s long record of public deception in pushing the job-killing trial lawyer agenda.

Texas Watch also opposed the 2011 lawsuit reforms that ended the massive attorney fee abuse at TWIA and they opposed medical liability reforms in 2003, which have brought thousands of doctors to Texas. 

Texas Watch has long tried to deceive the public by portraying themselves as a pro-consumer group, but according to their filing with the Texas Secretary of State, the seven-member board of Texas Watch is dominated by personal injury trial lawyers and their allies including the longtime spokesman for the Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA) Willie Chapman, and Dallas trial lawyer D. Shawn Stevens.  The Deputy Director of Texas Watch, Ware Wendall, is a personal injury trial lawyer.   

Texans for Lawsuit Reform, the state’s largest civil justice reform organization, is a bipartisan, volunteer-led coalition with more than 18,000 supporters residing in more than 869 Texas communities and representing 1,253 different businesses, professions and trades. For more information, visit www.tortreform.com.

Media contact:  Sherry Sylvester, 210-241-5296 sy***********@gm***.com, @sylvester1630