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How Gov. Greg Abbott won millions and helped stop Texans from doing the same

Forty years ago this week, a tree fell on Greg Abbott, paralyzing the future governor from the waist down. He sued for damages and won millions—and then helped stop Texans from doing the same.

By Brooke Kushwaha, News Reporter
July 15, 2024

Forty years ago this week, a 26-year-old law school graduate named Greg Abbott was out jogging on the streets of River Oaks when a tree snapped and fell, paralyzing him from the waist down. Abbott, in the midst of studying for the bar, sued the tree owner and later the tree-trimming company that had neglected the 75-year-old tree. He won a multimillion-dollar settlement, the details of which remained private for years.

Decades later, Abbott campaigned in support of tort reform curtailing "frivolous" lawsuits and won. Abbott's critics claimed that he helped usher in a Texas significantly less friendly to plaintiffs seeking damages like the ones Abbott won. Looking back on the case 40 years later, Don Riddle, Abbott's personal injury lawyer at the time, agrees that Texas has changed.

"It would be next to impossible to get the kind of settlement we got," Riddle told Chron Monday. Tort reform, or as Riddle calls it, "tort deform," has severely capped the kind of damages individuals can seek out, and Riddle doesn't see that changing in Texas anytime soon. So how did we get here, and how did Abbott come to turn against the legal mechanism that made him millions?

https://www.chron.com/politics/article/greg-abbott-tree-lawsuit-explained-19574621.php

Sorry...but this POS doesn't get a pass just because he's a disabled POS.