Recently in the Texas Legislature a bill known as loser pay has been introduced and passed in the house. The bill is horrible for Texas families and anyone with an insurance claim.

By way of example, let’s say that a drunk driver who goes to jail yet leaves your family with the mountain of medical bills not to mention how their injuries maimed your family. You disagree with the impact of the accident with the insurance company, go to trial and win the lawsuit (obviously not a frivolous lawsuit) yet under this bill in some circumstances you could be required to pay the attorneys fees and expert witness costs of the insurance company, money for the drunk driver.

The bill is designed to give insurance companies in all kinds of situations an upper hand to lowball Texas families under the threat of having to pay the insurance companies inflated legal fees should the family not recover enough money. It has nothing to do with a frivolous lawsuit and it is certainly not a loser pays situation.

Why is it not a loser pay situation–because under the above example let’s say that you disagreed on the impact of the accident with a drunk driver with the insurance carrier and go to court and get more than the insurance carrier offered you any more than you offered to settle for with them–but they delayed the case for years at great expense to you–under no circumstances would the insurance company or the drunk driver be required to pay your litigation expenses or attorney.

You have to pay the drunk driver lawyers if you don’t recover enough from the drunk driver-but the insurance company never has to pay your attorney’s fees regardless of the frivolous defense they may mount.

For that reason–this is not a loser pay bill it’s a Texas family pay law and if enacted will hurt any Texas family with an insurance claim. Partisan politics aside this is terrible law and clearly anti-family.

Greg Baumgartner is a Texas personal injury lawyer and the founder of the Baumgartner Law Firm.