QUOTES AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• In 1993, the Texas House Committee on State Affairs, Bill Analysis, Regarding S.B. 470 (68th Legis., 1983) Found the Liability Limits to Be Inadequate:

  "Considering that the limits were set in 1973 and the size of the monetary judgments being awarded today, the present limits are inadequate." [Italics and bold added]

• In 1998, the Court of Appeals of Texas Recommended that the Texas State Legislature Review the Liability Limits For Reasonableness and Adequacy  in a case in which the court enforced the $100,000 liability limit against the family of a three year old boy whose leg had been amputated as the result of a city bus negligently making a right turn and jumping onto the curb on which the boy had been playing with his parents in front of his house :

  "In 1970, the $100,000 limitation on damages brought considerably more redress than it does in 1998. While we do not find that cap arbitrary and unreasonable in the context of the time it was created, we do think it is time that the legislature reviewed the reasonableness and adequacy of this cap in light of the changes in costs and valuations that have occurred since 1970." [Italics and bold added]   Salvatierra v. VIA Metropolitan Transit Authority

• Present Economic Value of $100,000 Liability Limit in 1994 Dollars was Less than $25,000 in 1970 Dollars: 

  "A judgment of $250,000 in 1994 would be the equivalent of less than $92,000 1970 dollars - less in economic terms than the original $100,000 cap. Similarly, a $100,000 judgment in 1994 would be the equivalent of less than $25,000 1970 dollars. To the extent the legislative goal is to provide relief which is the economic equivalent of $100,000 1970 dollars, the liability caps would currently [in 2001] need to be raised to nearly five times the original amount." [Italics and bold added]

• For more information about the Texas Tort Claims Act , see The Texas Tort Claims Act Litigation Guide