October 22, 2007

Texas's landmark liability reform law, H.B. 4, seems on its face to require a signed expert report before med-mal litigation can proceed -- or do trial lawyers have a right to take depositions first from medical personnel in hopes of developing enough for an expert to sign off on? Backers of the reform fear, and some trial lawyers hope, that the question could blow a great big hole in the much-discussed law. The National Law Journal, which has the story, quotes defendants' lawyer R. Brent Cooper, a partner in Dallas' Cooper & Scully: "If you allow the process that the Tyler Court of Appeals allowed, virtually all of the safeguards on discovery that were imposed by H.B. 4 could be bypassed".