Texans Still at Odds Over Bush's Legal Reforms

"I couldn't believe it. I couldn't sue my builder, but he could sue me," Mary Cohn said.

A judge eventually dismissed the lawsuit, citing the Cohns' right to free speech.

The new climate for Texas home buyers has spawned a vigorous and well-organized consumer movement that is calling on the Legislature to enact a "home lemon law."

It has also focused attention on arbitration, the business community's preferred alternative to going to court. The practice has become widespread, partly in response to criticism of costly lawsuits and what sometimes appear to be outlandish damage verdicts.

But courts are divided on whether unwitting consumers can sign away their right to sue, which is enshrined in the U.S. -- and Texas -- constitutions.

In California, for example, some judges have refused to enforce arbitration agreements because the pacts are tilted against the consumer. Others have ruled that the buyer has no choice but to go to arbitration.

The Texas Supreme Court and its nine elected justices, all Republicans, have consistently sided with builders in upholding arbitration clauses.

"There is no place in the country like Texas. The Texas courts have rejected the notion that something could be unfair to consumers," said Paul Bland, an attorney for Trial Lawyers for Public Justice in Washington.

Arbitration is often surprisingly costly, especially for consumers, as trial lawyers like to point out. Several Texas homeowners who had extensive mold damage said they were shocked to learn they would have to pay as much as $14,000 to take their claims to arbitration -- the cost of paying for the arbitrator and construction experts.

If a consumer sues in court, a trial lawyer will usually take the case for free and cover the cost of hiring experts and investigating the defendant through "discovery" ordered by the court. If the consumer wins the lawsuit, the lawyer's fee is a percentage of the monetary verdict, often one-third of the total.

"Arbitration is a scam. We pay taxes for judges and juries and a courthouse, but we can't use them," said John Cobarruvias, a software engineer for NASA in Houston who became a homeowner activist after he had to pay $20,000 to repair defective windows in his new home. "The builders are afraid of juries."

Texas homebuilders are big contributors to Republican political campaigns.