Takes the Sting Out, Dunnit?

Last November, Texas Monthly‘s Mimi Swartz artfully deconstructed tort reform and its unimagined consequences in her November 2005 story “Hurt? Injured? Need a Laywer? Too Bad!” After Swartz’s much-talked-about story appeared, the special interest group Texans for Lawsuit Reform published a 5,300-word memo that attempted to rebut Swartz’s reporting, citing bias and a bevy of factual errors while childishly attacking the magazine’s integrity. Swarz’s editor for the piece, Paul Burka, replied in the next month’s issue that his writer made a few minor errors that were not particularly germane to the theme of her piece. Now, we learn that Swartz deservedly has the last laugh: Her story is a 2006 National Magazine Award finalist in the Public Interest category. —Matt Pulle