Plaintiffs lawyers are concerned about legislation which might pass the Texas Senate Wednesday, warning it could subject complicated, high-dollar cases to speedy trial rules that limit discovery and trial time.

Senate Bill 2342, sponsored by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Beaumont, is highly likely to pass the Senate because it was placed on the local and uncontested calendar, which is generally used for noncontroversial bills that are approved without debate.

Under current law, cases worth $100,000 or less go through mandatory expedited action rules, but Senate Bill 2342 would raise the limit to $250,000.

“With an increase in value very often comes an increase in complexity, an increase in significance of the case and an increased need for discovery, trial time and things like that,” said Will Adams, lead trial attorney at Adams Law Firm in Katy and president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, the biggest plaintiffs lawyer group in the state. “There are going to be lots and lots of cases where those rules won't help someone find justice, and the lawyer should be able to opt out.”

Creighton told members of the Senate State Affairs Committee during an April 4 public hearing that he wants SB 2342 to reduce the amount of time and money that it takes to resolve disputes in the legal system.

“These rules have done a great job of expediting the process for those particular cases,” Creighton said at the April 4 hearing. The committee passed a substitute version of the bill on April 8.

Lee Parsley, general counsel of Texans for Lawsuit Reform, testified that he supported the change.

SB 2342 also proposes increasing jurisdictional caps and juror numbers in some state courts:

• County courts-at-law jurisdiction would rise from $200,000 to $250,000.
• Justice court jurisdiction would increase from $10,000 to $20,000.
• Some counties now have county courts-at-law with special jurisdictions of greater than $250,000. The bill wouldn't change that, but would mandate that those high-dollar cases receive 12 rather than six jurors, unless the parties agreed on fewer.
• A county court-at-law hearing a family law matter before a jury would have to seat 12 rather than six jurors.

If the bill passes, it would head to the Texas House, and be sent through a committee for a public hearing. The House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee on April 3 approved SB 2342's companion bill, House Bill 3336, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano.

Read SB 2342 here.