After
announcing the 2003 True Texan would go
to State Representative Joe Nixon, I received
feedback from many personal injury and medical
malpractice attorneys. Most messages had
to be deleted before my monitor melted.
Yes, their lives have drastically changed.
One friend told me that every per$onal injury
lawyer he knew wa$ hunting for the one ca$e
that would $et him up for a lifetime. (Can
you say: “the Texas Tobacco 5?”)
Some
trial lawyers are so mad about “Ten
Gallon Tort” they are running for office.
All across Texas there is huge increase
in lawyers filing for office as Republicans.
Even the Texas Republican Chairwoman, Tina
Benkiser is being challenged by a medical
malpractice lawyer, Gina Parker, who declared
her determination to take over the GOP months
before the June convention. How uncomfortable
is that? In years past the Democrats were
synonymous with trial lawyers. (note: Benkiser
is an attorney that heartily supports tort
reform)
As
the population of trial lawyers in the state
legislature dwindled along with the Democrats,
the chances of tort reform have increased.
The population of regular citizens in the
legislature has increased with the new majority
of Republicans in Austin . small business
owners, retirees, farmers, ranchers, insurance
agents, doctors and teachers are running
the state now. The attorney population is
an estimated 40%. After decades of making
laws that made their profession wealthy
at the expense of other professions, Texas
trial attorneys are gasping at their plight:
make an honest living like everyone else.
The
cover of Newsweek magazine in December declared:
Lawsuit
Hell Civil
Wars
Doctors.
Teachers. Coaches. Ministers. They all share
a common fear: being sued on the job.
“But
Americans don't just sue big corporations
or bad people. They sue doctors over misfortunes
that no doctor could prevent. They sue their
school officials for disciplining their
children for cheating. They sue their local
governments when they slip and fall on the
sidewalk, get hit by drunken drivers, get
struck by lightning on city golf courses—and
even when they get attacked by a goose in
a park (that one brought the injured plaintiff
$10,000). They sue their ministers for failing
to prevent suicides. They sue their Little
League coaches for not putting their children
on the all-star team. They sue their wardens
when they get hurt playing basketball in
prison. They sue when their injuries are
severe but self-inflicted, when their hurts
are trivial and when they have not suffered
at all.”
I
received an email joke recently that started:
Rules for Hunting Attorneys….. Yes,
it was funny and macabre at the same time.
I just saw it again and decided to delete
it. I have some wonderful friends who are
attorneys and judges. I respect them very
much.
Why
has our culture reached this state of disdain
for a profession once revered? Catherine
Crier, a former Dallas district attorney
and judge, is now an Emmy winning legal
journalist and host of Court TV's Catherine
Crier Live. Crier's 2002 book,
The Case Against Lawyers, is an indictment
against almost all in the legal profession.
Crier leaves no one untouched. Lambasting
liberals, conservatives, Democrats, Republicans,
big businesses and bureaucrats for making
the law an “instrument of tyranny”, Crier
states the “rule of law was never meant
to be a substitute for community standards.”
Interesting book by a great Texas
gal. You might want to read it.
Crier
directs people to a website that she monitors.
www.overlawyered.com
states “ Overlawyered.com
explores an American legal system that too
often turns litigation into a weapon against
guilty and innocent alike, erodes individual
responsibility, rewards sharp practice,
enriches its participants at the public's
expense, and resists even modest efforts
at reform and accountability. ”
If
you are voting in the Republican Primary
this year, take note of the professions
of unknown candidates who just recently
became politically active. County chairmen
across the state are not only wary of ‘rinos',
but the obvious attempted hijacking of their
party.
Every
Democrat legislator who supported HB 4 is
also being challenged in the March primary
by a very well financed opponent. Watch
those races closely. The trial lawyers don't
just remember, they get even.
I
won't publish any lawyer jokes, I know we
are blessed in Texas with more good ones
than bad ones. The bad ones may move to
New Mexico or Louisiana now. Sorry, neighbors.
We just had too many!
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