On Aug. 6, crime prevention and victims’ advocates came to the Capitol to announce their opposition to Proposition 12, the proposed constitutional amendment they predict will destroy the state’s civil-justice system and hand the power of juries and judges over to legislators and their sponsoring business interests.
On Saturday, Sept. 13, voters will go to the polls — or, at least we hope some will — to vote on Proposition 12, a component of the Lege’s controversial tort reform. On its face, the measure would limit the amount of money that judges and juries can award a plaintiff for “noneconomic damages” — like pain and suffering — in a civil action, singling out lawsuits against doctors and “health care providers” (read HMOs). But lawmakers have left the proposition’s more disturbing provisions decidedly vague; Proposition 12 would also allow legislators to place additional caps on “other actions” in the future — giving the Lege, and not the courts, power to decide which lawsuits, and which types of crimes, are worth punishing. “This takes us a step backward on crime prevention in Texas,” said Dan Lambe, executive director of the consumer group Texas Watch. “It’s not just about doctors; it’s about every conceivable civil action you can imagine.”
Proposition 12 protects wrongdoers and punishes victims, said Barbara Ayres, of the advocacy group We Will Not Forget SAJE (Sarah Amy Jennifer and Eliza). Ayres, mother of Sarah and Jennifer Harbison, two of the four victims of Austin’s 1991 yogurt-shop murders, said her group works with the employers and the property owners of businesses that hire teenagers to ensure a safe working environment. The threat of significant damages encourages business owners and landlords to keep their properties crime-free, she said. In 1993 Ayres reached a $12 million settlement with Brice Foods, the owner of the I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt! chain, and with the owners of the strip center off Anderson Lane where her daughters were murdered. In her case, she said, the property owners knew the strip center was conducive to criminal activity prior to the murders, she said, but had failed to take any action. The strip center was poorly lit and the interior of the yogurt shop was laid out in a manner that put her daughters’ lives at risk, she said. Since the settlement, she said, the strip center is a much safer place. “Until you can cap the pain and suffering [crime causes], why would you cap [damages]?” she asked. “Why would you do that to your fellow Texan? Would you do that to your mother? It can be our only recourse and it’s our freedom.”
But it appears the odds are stacked in favor of Proposition 12’s passage; instead of the standard November election date — which this year would coincide with municipal elections in Houston, bringing more voters to the polls — legislators opted for a Saturday in September, nearly ensuring a woefully small turnout. For more on Proposition 12, see “Capitol Chronicle,” p.15.
This article appears in August 15 • 2003.