Bush's legacy in Texas, supporters here say, was the reining in of a civil justice system that was out of control.
"This state was known for egregious abuses of the legal system," said Ken Hoagland, a spokesman for Texans for Lawsuit Reform. "It was entrepreneurial law. The trial lawyers would find a moneymaking cause and then go recruit some plaintiffs. But since 1995, we've really changed the landscape."
To hear critics tell it, however, Bush-style legal reform is bad news for consumers.
Until the mid-1990s, Texas had one of the nation's strongest consumer-protection laws. Known as the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, it allowed cheated consumers to sue and take their claims before a jury. The targets of these suits ranged widely: car dealers, health clubs, home-repair contractors, promoters of get-rich-quick and weight-loss schemes, even marketers of fake sports memorabilia.
In legal changes, some begun under Bush and others that occurred after he became president, the pro-business Texas Legislature and state Supreme Court made it harder for consumers to sue and win damages. One industry after another -- including real estate brokers, architects and engineers -- won protections against being sued.
No industry was more effective in protecting its interests than the politically powerful homebuilders.
Even before Bush became governor, the builders won passage of the Residential Construction Liability Act, which gave them the "right to repair" defects before homeowners could sue. But a series of amendments under Bush, and more since his tenure, tilted the law heavily toward builders, critics say.
In practice, the "right to repair" became the "right to delay" without penalty, according to aggrieved buyers. Later amendments made it harder for homeowners to prove that damage was caused by the original construction. If the builder was shown to be at fault, the law limited how much money could be awarded.
At the same time, builders began adding arbitration clauses to their contracts so that unhappy homeowners were forced to take their complaints before a privately hired arbitrator, rather than a judge and jury. As of last year, inspectors chosen by an industry-dominated panel determined the facts on which the arbitration was decided.
None of the legal changes was promoted as a means to shortchange consumers. Rather, industry lobbyists said it was better for both buyers and sellers if disputes were resolved quickly and without costly lawsuits.
