Video: The Inhumanity of Texas Tort Reform

April 3, 2026

Legal Progressthe legal policy program at the Center for American Progressreleased a new video on the damaging effects of Texas tort reform legislation, which makes it virtually impossible for victims of emergency room negligence to hold hospitals accountable for medical malpractice. Texas tort reform, established by a 2003 constitutional amendment that passed by a razor-thin margin, allowed the state legislature to place an arbitrary $250,000 cap on the damages juries could award to injured plaintiffs. It also required plaintiffs injured in emergency rooms to prove that a defendant showed willful and wanton negligence while administering care. In other words, plaintiffs must prove that doctors and nurses intentionally injured thema near-impossible standard for lawyers and their clients to meet.
Texas tort reform has essentially established a lower standard of care for emergency rooms. Injured patients with permanent disabilities cannot find lawyers who will take their cases, said Billy Corriher, Director of Research for Legal Progress. As a result, the crushing costs of negligent medical errors has been shifted from insurance companies and hospitals to victims of negligence and unaware taxpayers.

This video lays bare the complete absurdity of capping non-economic [pain and suffering] damages at $750,000 and punitive damages at $500,000 in Tennessee pursuant to the TN GOP’s power grab (and terribly misnamed) “Tennessee Civil Justice Act of 2011.”

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Warren County TN Wrongful Death  David Randolph Smith

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On 10/20/10 the Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated a jury verdict obtained by David Randolph Smith & Associates for the widow of a Tennessee Army National Guard sergeant who died in 2000. The jury had awarded $7.2 million in the Tennessee wrongful death lawsuit against River Park Hospital of McMinnville. The Tennessee Supreme Court’s reinstatement of the verdict resulted in a total award, with interest, of $10.7 million. Warren County court officials said the multimillion-dollar judgment was the largest amount awarded by a jury in county history at the time of its award.A copy of the opinion is available here.
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Group B Strep Wrongful Death Settlement

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