Marathon Pundit: Don't mess with Texas: 'Loser pays,' Texas small business wins

Texas, home of President Bush

There is good news in Texas for small businesses. And it's also a welcome development in the other 49 states--"Loser pays" is a winning law that is sure to catch on.

Writing for National Review Online, Stephen DeMaura, the president of Americans for Job Security, lauds the new law.

Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas state legislature want the rest of the country to hear this message loud and clear: The Lone Star State is open for business.

In a unanimous vote last week, the Texas senate adopted 'loser pays' tort-reform legislation, which says that a plaintiff must pay the winning party's legal fees if their complaint is judged to be groundless. On Wednesday, the Texas house concurred. Governor Perry, who had championed the legislation from its inception, signed it Monday night.

The Wall Street Journal editorialized, "This Texas upgrade will build on reforms in 2003 and 2005 that have vastly improved the legal climate in what has not coincidentally become the country's best state for job creation. Texas rewrote everything from class-action certification to product liability" — and I would add the state's medical-malpractice reforms to that list.

No wonder the nation's CEOs list Texas as the best state for business.