Call it the St. Valentine’s Day Eve Massacre, the Texas Supreme Court’s unleashing new restrictions on how lawsuits claiming damages under $100,000.00 are to be conducted. The rules affect all lawsuits filed beginning March 1st.
Among other onerous restrictions are rules requiring attorneys to plead how much damages a jury will award at the very beginning of the case — and lose any amount awarded by a jury over $100,000.
There are also extreme restrictions on the discovery of pre-trial facts, the length of mediations and trials, and ability of a plaintiff to even file a case without a defendant immediately moving to dismiss it — and being awarded attorney’s fees and costs for the first time ever.
The Texas Supreme Court continues to restrict the constitutional right to trials, as I have blogged about on many occasions.
The full text of the new rules are here.