Houston Daily

Texans for Lawsuit Reform announced that Texas insurance premiums have risen nearly 25% year over year, attributing the increase to "nuclear verdicts" and what it described as trial lawyers' resistance to legal reforms.

Rising insurance costs in Texas reflect multiple pressures, including elevated claim severity, higher repair and medical costs, and extreme-weather risk, alongside legal-system dynamics. According to business groups, "social inflation" and litigation tactics amplify loss costs, while consumer advocates point to insurer underwriting cycles. Within this debate, tort-reform advocates emphasize that large jury awards and mass-tort financing can raise premiums across lines, especially auto, trucking, and property coverage in catastrophe-exposed markets.

Texas auto premiums climbed 15% in 2024 to an average of $2,712 for full coverage, with projections suggesting a further rise to roughly $2,886 in 2025. Analysts cited inflation, higher claim frequency and severity, and weather losses as core drivers; rate hikes have recently moderated as profitability improved. These figures underscore that even mid-teens increases materially burden households and small fleets, particularly when layered atop broader cost-of-living pressures in fast-growing metro areas like Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, and Austin.

Large jury awards remain a measurable cost driver nationally: an Institute for Legal Reform study identified 1,288 "nuclear verdicts" ($10M+) from 2013–2022, with a median award of $21M; 19% topped $50M and at least 23 exceeded $100M in 2023—a record. California, Florida, New York and Texas together produced about half of such verdicts. Tort-reform advocates argue that curbing outsized noneconomic damages and tightening expert-evidence rules would enhance predictability and help stabilize insurance costs borne by consumers and employers.

Founded in 1994 and based in Houston, Texans for Lawsuit Reform is a business-backed advocacy organization focused on reshaping Texas’s civil justice system toward what it describes as a fair, balanced, and predictable legal climate.