Tort Reformers Address Baylor Survey
In this post, I asked how "tort reformers" are responding to the Baylor Law Review-sponsored survey of Texas judges, which has been championed as helping to "clear the air" about the state of our court system. In a commentary recently published in the San Antonio Express-News, Austin lawyer Lee Parsley does just that. In addition, Texans for Lawsuit Reform has issued a press release (picked up by MSNBC) touting the Parsley article. Parsley and TLR read the Baylor study much differently than previous commentators, contending that it actually shows a need for further lawsuit reform.
Todd, thanks for the link to Lee Parsley's response to what Peter Kelly and I wrote.
There's a fallacy in Lee's comment, where he says: "The judges reported that in 17 percent of their cases, the jury's verdict on compensatory damages was too high." Actually, the survey shows that not quite 17% of judges have seen any excessive verdicts in their courts in the last four years. Therefore, it's a small minority of judges who've seen even one excessive verdict. That's not the same thing as 17% of all cases.
83.4% of the trial judges said they had seen no excessive verdicts in the previous four years. I think Lee's made a major mistake interpreting the data.
I also don't think he's right when he says the Baylor survey was "biased." I think the best way to determine where the bias lies is to read the article yourself, and then to read Lee's comment. It's easy to read in just a few minutes, and it has some very persuasive data that supports the view that the jury system works fine.
Here's the link that Todd provided earlier to the Baylor article:
http://www.civtrial.com/blog/litigation/straight-from-the-horses-mouth-part-2.html
Have you done any analysis of the prior appellate opinions reviewing the cases of those candidates who would run for the Texas Supreme Court?
Thirteenth Court of Appeals Justice Linda Yanez and Judge Susan Criss are in a primary to run against Justice Phil Johnson.
Attorneys Sam Houston of Houston and Baltazar Cruz of Dallas are running against Justice Dale Wainwright.
There are rumors of several well regarded judges who are looking into the likelihood that they will run against Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson.
I have read some of the prior decisions of Justice Yanez and some of the decisions reviewing (and generally reversing) Criss to compare them against Justice Johnson's opinions, but I am unfamiliar with Houston's and Cruz's work.
No, I haven't, and I won't. Although I occasionally mention controversial issues, I try to stay neutral about judicial candidates and judges. This isn't a political blog;it's a lawyering blog. And I have to practice in front of whoever gets elected.