Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a political rally. Credit: X / @GregAbbott_TX

Social media users roasted Gov. Greg Abbott on the 42nd anniversary of the accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down — not to mock his disability but for his actions that made it harder for other injured Texans to file lawsuits.

On Monday, Abbott, who’s locked in a reelection battle against Democratic State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, shared an X post commemorating the anniversary of a tree falling on him while he was on a jog in Houston — an injury that requires him to use a wheelchair.

“My parents instilled in me the values that carried me through my darkest days: hard work, perseverance, and faith in God,” Abbott wrote. “Our lives are not defined by our challenges, but by how we respond to them.”

Abbott continued: “Some say you need a spine of steel to lead. I actually have one. And I will never stop fighting for Texas.”

One detail that Abbott left out, though, was the massive payout he collected after the injury.

Following the accident, Abbott sued both the homeowner and the trimming service that inspected the tree. He ended up with a multimillion-dollar settlement agreement that provides him with a six-figure, tax-free annual payment for the rest of his life.

However, during his time as a Texas Supreme Court Justice and Attorney General, Abbott made it harder for Texans to win what he then called “frivolous” lawsuits — even though many critics argue that those changes have limited people from bringing lawsuits similar to the one he filed.

“It would be next to impossible to get the kind of settlement we got,” Abbott’s attorney in the tree lawsuit, Don Riddle, told the Houston Chronicle in 2024.

That wasn’t lost on social media users, who used Abbott’s Monday post to call him out for hypocrisy.

“You sued and got millions,” user @LJohnson0013 quipped in response. “Then obtained power and made it more difficult for others to sue.”

User @argo201290 called Abbott’s ruling to limit others’ right to sue over injuries “despicable.”

“You took that money, became governor, then made sure nobody else could get the payout that you did,” they wrote.

If Abbott is reelected in November and completes a full term, he will be the longest-serving governor in Texas history.

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Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...