Houston Chronicle, May 29, 2006

Clearing record on editorial

THE Chronicle's editorial "Going to extremes" took Texas to task for being ranked first place in a national study and argued that Texas' sterling record on tort reform harms consumers. But quite the opposite is true. Personal injury lawyers have turned many state civil justice systems into litigation lotteries that raise prices, hurt employers, cost jobs and drive away investment capital.

This is one reason why Texas has more than triple the employment growth rate of the last-place state in our study, Vermont.

As the trial bar's grip on our legal system has tightened, U.S. tort costs have risen dramatically.

The editorial doesn't mention that our tort system now costs $260 billion per year, or $886 for every American. This money isn't going to consumers — in 2002, the tort system returned less than 50 cents of every tort-cost dollar to injured claimants.

The trial bar's attack on the study based on PRI's funding is unoriginal and groundless.

The study is based on objective measures and its conclusions are clear: An effective tort system does not require that we allow individual personal injury lawyers to become billionaires off the backs of shareholders, employees and consumers.

Lawrence J. McQuillan is director, business and economic studies, Pacific Research Institute, San Francisco.