Access to Justice in a World Without Lawyers: Evidence from Texas Bodily Injury Claims

Will tort reform capping contingency fees limit plaintiffs’ ability to recover for their injuries? If self-representation is a viable option, contingency fees may have less of an impact on access than one might otherwise expect. Conversely, if tort recoveries flow only or mostly to plaintiffs who either actually hire lawyers or can credibly threaten to do so, caps on contingency fees may make it difficult or impossible for many victims to obtain justice. This article explores the issue by looking at patterns of representation among claimants who received payments for bodily injury in Texas during 1988-2005. Over an extended period and across multiple lines of coverage, an overwhelming majority of successful bodily injury claimants in Texas decided they needed a lawyer. When claims can be resolved without the initiation of formal litigation, a small percentage of claimants decide to represent themselves, because these claimants have “lawyer-worthy” claims and can credibly threaten to ”lawyer up” unless paid amounts they consider satisfactory. Only claimants who can credibly threaten to litigate successfully can extract settlement payments, and claimants who cannot find lawyers cannot make this threat. SILVER/HYMAN CHRISTENSEN 3/12/2010 1:49 PM 357 ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN A WORLD WITHOUT LAWYERS: EVIDENCE FROM TEXAS BODILY INJURY CLAIMS Charles Silver and David A. Hyman Introduction ............................................................................................... 358 I. Data Description .................................................................................. 360 II. Results ................................................................................................ 362 A. Descriptive Statistics ............................................................... 362 B. Multivariate Analysis .............................................................. 365 1. Changes in the Rate of Self-Representation over Time ..... 365 2. Claim-level Factors ............................................................ 367 a. Claim Size ................................................................... 367 b. Claim Complexity ....................................................... 368 c. Cost of Legal Services................................................. 369 d. Regression Analysis .................................................... 370 III. Discussion ......................................................................................... 373 A. Implications of Our Findings ................................................... 373 B. Time Trends ............................................................................. 374 C. Effect of 1995 Tort Reforms ................................................... 375 D. The Proof is in the Pudding ..................................................... 376 E. Experience in Other States ...................................................... 376 F. Wealth and Income and the Decision to Hire Counsel ............ 379 G. Limitations of Our Study ......................................................... 380 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 380 ∗ Silver is McDonald Endowed Chair in Civil Procedure, University of Texas Law School. Tel. 512-232-1337, email: [email protected]. Hyman is Richard & Marie Corman Professor of Law and Professor of Medicine, University of Illinois. Tel. 217-333-0061, email: [email protected]. A draft of this paper was presented at the Symposium sponsored by the ABA Section of Litigation entitled Real People, Real Needs, Real Solutions: Access to Legal Representation in Civil Litigation in December 2008. We are grateful for comments received there and for comments Ronen Avraham provided on a prior draft. We thank Hyun Kim for help with statistical analyses and interpretation of the results. SILVER/HYMAN CHRISTENSEN 3/12/2010 1:49 PM 358 FORDHAM URB. L.J. [Vol. XXXVII