Schuelke Law Firm’s Brooks Schuelke Supports State Compensation Rules

Austin, Texas – A bill that would have limited injured Texans’ ability to hold negligent parties accountable failed to meet essential deadlines recently, marking the end of the legislation. Austin personal injury lawyer Brooks Schuelke considers the bill’s death a victory for Texas residents. 

“The legislative process allows lawmakers to try out various ideas and weed out the bad ones,” said Schuelke. “This bill went the way of many ideas that just aren’t right for Texas families.” 

Senate Bill 30, introduced by Senator Charles Schwertner, would have limited the damages an injured person could receive in a lawsuit. The bill imposed these limits in multiple ways. 

First, the bill imposed limits directly by tying the compensation amount to certain thresholds. For instance, in some cases, juries could only award for medical expenses up to 150 percent of what Medicare paid for certain medical services – even if an injured person’s actual costs were far higher. 

The bill also sought to limit the types of evidence an injured person could introduce in court. Limited evidence was likely to lead to limited verdicts, as juries would not have all the facts necessary to fully understand an injured person’s needs, said Schuelke.

In committee, the bill faced significant editing. Its final version expanded the evidence available for juries to estimate damages, compared to the bill’s original version. It also required disclosure of referrals between lawyers and health care providers, but it did not tie damages to Medicare or any other standard. 

Both the Texas House and Senate passed versions of the bill. However, they failed to reconcile their versions by the deadline. Without a single version on which both chambers agree, the bill did not advance. 

Senator Schwertner told the press that the bill’s goal was to end “nuclear verdicts”—large personal injury verdicts awarding $10 million or more to injured plaintiffs. 

Such “nuclear verdicts” are rare, says Attorney Schuelke. Furthermore, they tend to be proportionate to the loss. 

“Large verdicts typically reflect significant losses,” said Schuelke. “For example, in a birth injury case where a baby will have severe lifelong disabilities, a large verdict reflects the substantial costs of medical care and support for the child.” 

“This bill”, Schuelke said, “was not about nuclear verdicts. Instead, it was a gift to the insurance industry. Texans are lucky that the bill died.

For 20 years, the personal injury attorneys at Schuelke Law have been helping accident victims and their families recover damages and get their lives back. Get the benefits you deserve. Get the respect you deserve.

Schuelke Law
1100 B Guadalupe Street
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 476-4944
https://www.civtrial.com/
Press Contact : Brooks Schuelke

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