Texas Personal Injury Attorney: Discouraging Lawsuits with Smaller Claims
As a Texas personal injury attorney, I see firsthand how personal injury cases affect my client’s lives. Winning a suit, even a relatively smaller one, can help them to get their lives back on track, allowing them to pursue better healthcare and provide for their families.
I found the original version of House Bill 274 frustrating because of the special advantages it would give to defendants, as I described in my past blog. By allowing the defendant to decide whether or not attorney’s fees would be paid by the prevailing party, it gave the defendant greater bargaining power and made it more likely for cases – even those with merit – to be dropped.
Texas Personal Injury Attorney: Why Were Certain Cases Excluded?
In this original bill, most civil cases would have to follow the new rules, except for class action, a shareholder's derivative action, an action brought under the Texas Family Code, an action to collect workers' compensation benefits under Subtitle A,Title 5, of the Texas Labor Code, and an action filed in a justice of the peace court.
These cases are usually filed by people with economically unviable lawsuits, and in fact, class actions and derivative actions already allowed for attorney’s fees to be recovered in many circumstances, encouraging them to take the risk of suing to correct an injustice.
So the bill as it was originally introduced appears to have been aimed at reducing lawsuits with smaller claims. It could have, in effect, affected people’s willingness to pursue smaller personal injury cases or premises liability cases. This would mean that more individuals would not get justices for their cases, even if they were wronged by the other party.
Luckily, this version of the bill did not pass, so if you have suffered from a personal injury, I encourage you to contact an experienced Texas personal injury attorney to better understand your situation.
If you or a loved one have been injured in an accident, contact Marc Whitehead, a board certified personal injury attorney in Houston, Texas or download our free ebook, Car & Truck Crashes, 10 Secrets Victims Should Know To Protect Their Rights.
