Marital tort lawsuits can make abusers pay.

Marital lawyer Wendy Burgower knew that her client, Darlina Brown, needed a good trial lawyer after Brown was admitted to the hospital.

Brown's husband, a prominent surgeon, allegedly beat his pregnant wife so severely that she went into premature labor. For Burgower, a Houston attorney who typically handles "big-money" divorces, "this case wasn't just about money."

"It was eye-opening for me," Burgower said, "and I've been practicing for 21 years."

What the case revealed, according to those familiar with it, was an escalating cycle of abuse. Mich