Texas Trucking Industry Fights Inflated Medical Costs In Litigation

Trucking officials and tort reform advocates in Texas have introduced legislation seeking to end schemes between plaintiff attorneys and doctors under which medical costs related to truck accidents are overstated in court litigation, a practice that critics charge is contributing to a rise in large jury verdicts and lawsuit settlements against trucking companies.

“I consider it the largest issue that this industry in Texas has seen since deregulation,” said John Esparza, president of the Texas Trucking Association, which is leading the charge to block medical bill inflation practices aimed at motor carriers.

The schemes are increasingly being blamed for forcing several, mostly small, Texas truckers who can’t afford massive hikes in their insurance rates to close their doors. Other truckers are choosing to move their businesses out of the state, and still others are simply steering clear of hauling freight in Texas, Esparza said.

Plaintiff attorneys in these scams advise clients involved in truck accidents not to file injury claims with their insurance providers. Instead, they’re directed to doctors willing to inflate medical bills for unnecessary services or bill at exorbitant prices, sometimes for medical treatments not performed, according to trucking executives and trucking defense attorneys.