"Put the Brakes on Ambulance Chasing" - Bob Parker

Put the Brakes on Ambulance Chasing

By Bob Parker, BACALA Chairman

Ambulance chasing is booming in parts of Texas, undermining not only our system of justice but our sense of justice, as injured people are subjected to questionable and insensitive tactics at one of the most vulnerable times in their lives. Now, Texas lawmakers have a chance to further protect Texans from this predatory practice.

A committee of the Texas House of Representatives is examining the problem of ambulance chasing and has the opportunity to recommend legislation to address this ugly legal tactic during next year’s legislative session. This could include tougher sanctions against lawyers or anyone who engages in ambulance chasing – legally known as barratry – or perhaps a Constitutional amendment to protect injured individuals from unsolicited contact by those who are only out to make a buck out of others’ misfortune.

But the bottom line is Texas must hold ambulance chasers accountable to the highest degree.

The incredibly insensitive practice of brazenly soliciting clients -- especially after an accident, the death of a loved one or while the injured person is still in the hospital -- is becoming commonplace in parts of Texas, especially in areas that are well-known hotbeds of abusive litigation and questionable legal antics.

For instance, the San Antonio Express-News has reported that barratry is “flourishing” in South Texas and that “warfare has broken out over barratry” in Corpus Christi. In that Gulf Coast city, the local newspaper noted that “lawyers are suing lawyers, seeking to overturn multimillion-dollar settlements of cases they claim were acquired improperly.”

Ambulance chasing is offensive on many levels. First, it means the perpetrators have the gall to approach their potential client in the hospital, the emergency room, even at the funeral home. And they often offer cash up front if a person or family will let them handle their case.

We’ve heard horror stories about a grieving mother approached in a funeral home, a man contacted in the hospital while still heavily sedated and temporarily blind following an accident, and another family that was paid $25,000 to sign their case to a specific law firm.

These antics fly in the face of common decency and show clearly why ambulance chasing is a felony offense in Texas. But felony or no, it continues to happen.

And that is why lawmakers in 2009 attempted to strengthen civil penalties against the practice of barratry. While that measure failed, we are encouraged that a legislative committee is again reviewing the problem.

Until we have stronger penalties on the books, these types of abusive tactics will continue. And so until that time, we urge any Texan who feels they may have been the victim of barratry to file a complaint with the State Bar of Texas by calling 1-800-204-2222. Ambulance chasers prey on victims. They are a menace to the legal profession and to the families and victims of accidents who need time to heal and grieve without being hounded by some predatory personal injury lawyers. Texans should support stronger laws to end this abhorrent practice.

R.E. "Bob" Parker is President of Repcon, Inc. Corporate headquarters are in Corpus Christi, with offices also located in the Houston, Beaumont and Baton Rouge areas. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bay Area Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.