AUSTIN, Texas—Texas lawmakers are considering a bill that would require plaintiffs in asbestos and silica injury cases to meet certain medical criteria before their claims can go forward.
State Rep. Joe Nixon, a Republican from Harris County, on Feb. 22 introduced H.B. 8, which would establish medical criteria in such cases. According to its text, the bill's purpose is to "protect the right of people with impairing asbestos-related and silica-related injuries to pursue their claims for compensation under our tort principles in a fair and efficient manner," while "preventing scarce judicial and litigant resources from being misdirected by the claims of individuals exposed to asbestos or silica but having no functional or physical impairment from asbestos-related or silica-related disease."
The measure also aims to head off "factually and medically baseless claims of individuals who have been mistakenly identified as claimants by marketing firms and screening companies in the business of creating 'inventories' of toxic tort claimants."
Before a claim could proceed, a plaintiff would have to meet specific medical criteria.Last year, Ohio become the first state to require that claimants in asbestos and silica injury cases manifest specified medical conditions before pursuing claims, although several individual courts throughout the country have instituted medical-criteria requirements in recent years.
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