Tell your state representative to restore fairness for workers who are injured on the job.  Support HB 1657.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I urge you to support HB 1657 by Rep. Helen Giddings, which will soon be considered by the Texas House.

HB 1657 would overturn the wrong-headed Entergy v. Summers case and restore the right of injured workers to go to court if they are injured because of the negligence of a premises owner who is not their employer. The Legislature never intended to exempt premises owners from the possibility of lawsuits when they commit acts of negligence and in fact repeatedly declined to approve legislation along those lines.

In addition, the Legislature has already approved "tort reform" measures that benefit premises owners by requiring a high standard of proof for injury victims to sue. Very few cases meet that standard.

The decision in Entergy amounts to an unwarranted invasion of the Legislature's considered balancing of the interests of workers and premises owners. The decision will endanger workers by further minimizing the penalty for negligence. The injury victims in the March 2005 BP explosion in Texas City, for example, would have been barred from obtaining damages under the Entergy ruling and would have instead been limited to meager workers' compensation benefits.

Please restore the law to what the Legislature said it should be and restore the appropriate separation of powers in Texas government. The safety of all workers is at stake.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
May 12, 2009