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dougt
 
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Default OT for Texans VOTE NO !

Mark Your Calendars for September 13!





On September 13, 2003, an election is going to take place in
Texas. It is perhaps the most important election in which you will ever
vote. At issue is the abolition of the Constitutional "open courts"
guarantee that was originally embodied in the Magna Carta, and that has been
a part of our constitutional law in Texas since our republic was founded. If
it passes, you will lose your Constitutional guarantee to a free and
independent court system.



This astounding attempt to change our Constitution is being
pushed by the same lobbyists for the insurance industry and special interest
groups who recently hoodwinked our legislators into passing the admittedly
unconstitutional statute known as House Bill 4. They now need to change the
Constitution in order for HB4 to stay on the books, but HB4 was just the
first step in their plan.



HB4 is a dehumanizing statute that places profits above the
value of human life. One of its principal objects is to immunize the health
care industry from responsibility for their negligence. While HB4 still
allows recovery of so-called "economic losses" such as lost income, if you
are a housewife, or elderly, or a mother who does not work outside the home,
and you are maimed or crippled for the rest of your life, of if you have a
baby or child who is dismembered, disfigured, brain damaged, or sentenced to
a lifetime of pain and suffering by the negligence of a hospital, nursing
home, or physician, and you or your baby has no "monetary losses," HB4 caps
your compensation at $250,000. Apparently, in the eyes of the special
interest groups who secured the passage of HB4, if you are a multimillion
dollar a year ENRON executive, you have value. If not, you have very little
value.



In Lucas v. United States, 757 S.W.2d 687 (Tex. 1988), the Texas
Supreme Court struck down the damage caps in the prior medical malpractice
statute - which were six times larger, or about $1,500,000 in current
dollars! - and ruled that even such much larger caps were arbitrary,
unreasonable, and prohibited by the Constitutional "open courts" guarantee.



In part, the September 13 election is intended to retroactively
make the new, even lower, caps in HB4 "constitutional" by changing the
constitution. BUT THAT IS NOT ALL. The September 13 election is intended to
completely abolish the Constitutional "open courts" provision so that the
insurance industry and special interests groups that currently hold the
economic and political power in Texas can pass more legislation placing
whatever caps they want, on any claim, of any nature, they desire.
Obviously, that will sound the death knell for our court system.



Our forefathers recognized the historical truth that power
corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. To prevent the
concentration and consolidation of power, they created a constitutional form
of government with three "equal" branches, executive, legislative and
judicial, and a separation and balance of powers between the three branches.
On September 13, we will find out whether that form of government will
continue to exist.



Don't be misled by the false propaganda about this change in the
Constitution. This is not about "greedy lawyers" or "frivolous lawsuits" or
doctors' insurance premiums. This is about increasing the power of the
insurance industry and special interest groups who desire special
protections under the law. It is about drastically reducing responsibility
and accountability for maiming and crippling (so that it becomes a
manageable cost of doing business). While responsible businesses place a
high priority on safety and a high value on human life, there are and always
have been many that do not. This proposed Constitutional change will grant
new, unbridled freedom to those who desire to put profits above human life.



The proposed constitutional amendment does nothing to protect
doctors - or anyone else, including you - from being gouged by escalating
insurance premiums. The Constitutional change will not allow the legislature
to cap insurance premiums. What it will do is allow caps on compensation for
serious injuries - the very thing that insurance is intended to cover.



It is not about frivolous lawsuits. There are already laws,
sanctions, juries and judges that minimize frivolous lawsuits. The proposed
Constitutional change does not even address the issue: it does not cap
damages for frivolous lawsuits, or sanction those who file them. In fact,
it would be ridiculous to cap damages for a frivolous lawsuit. You should
have - and under the existing law already have - no right to any recovery
for a frivolous claim! Nor does it address "insignificant" or "nuisance"
lawsuits. Under existing law, such suits result in very small recoveries -
much less than $250,000. It would be silly to cap lawsuits where damages
would never exceed the cap! No, it's not about small claims. The
Constitutional change is intended to allow damage caps on the most serious
lawsuits.



Nor is the proposed Constitutional change intended to prevent
"excessive" judgments. There are already procedural and substantive laws,
enforced by our trial and appellate court judges, that protect against
judgments disproportionate to the damages established by the evidence in the
case. No. What September 13 is all about is deciding cases contrary to the
evidence. It is about abolishing the constitutional power of judges and
juries to decide cases in our courts of law, usurping that power, and giving
it to the legislature where politics will decide the outcome of cases before
they even come to trial. It is about firing our judges and juries, and
giving their jobs to lobbyists who will decide the outcome of cases without
regard to the facts of the case, without regard to the evidence, and without
regard to the nature or extent of the injuries - but with the utmost regard
for the special interests who hire them.



In the end, September 13 is about freedom. To use Governor
Perry's words at the signing ceremony, HB4 announced loudly and clearly and
once and for all to the whole world that "Texas is open for business." He
obviously hopes that the door will be permanently nailed open by changing
the Constitution on September 13. If the open courts protections are
deleted from our Constitution, those who already control the legislative and
executive branches of our government will finally gain the absolute freedom
to exercise their power without fear of any interference or restraint from
the formerly independent and coequal judicial branch of our government. The
only question is, What will happen to your freedom when they make their
freedom absolute?

If you want to help preserve our constitutional form of
government, please forward this email to your friends, and urge everyone you
know to VOTE NO on September 13.

Gary Cornwell

850 Park Street, Suite 101

Beaumont, Texas 77701

(409) 833-1889

FAX: (409) 833-0711

e-mail:





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