Georgia governor signs tort reform package

ATLANTA (CN) — Surrounded by supporting state business leaders and lobbyists, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed two pieces of legislation limiting civil lawsuits into law on Monday.

“In the end, both of these bills accomplished our goal of leveling the playing field in Georgia’s courtrooms and ensuring our business environment remains the best in the nation. Senate Bill 68 and 69 reign Georgia into alignment with neighboring states and protect the rights of both sides to a fair trial,” Kemp said during the signing ceremony at the state Capitol.

One of them is Senate Bill 68, a comprehensive revision of provisions regarding civil practice, evidentiary matters, damages and liability in tort actions.

The “tort reform” bill sets stricter standards for when owners are accountable for injuries on their property, stops attorneys from recovering fees twice for the same case, allows jurors to see what portion of a medical bill was paid by insurance or third parties and enables trials to more easily be bifurcated, or split into multiple stages so that juries can determine liability and damages separately.

It passed in the House by a single vote, with several Republicans voting against the measure and three Democrats breaking party opposition to vote to approve it. In the final Senate vote, two Democrats crossed party lines to vote in support of the legislation, and one Republican opposed it.

As a result, State Representative Vance Smith, a Pine Mountain Republican, was ousted from his position as CEO of the Harris County Chamber of Commerce.

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce and state business leaders largely influenced Kemp’s long-held promise to curb “frivolous” tort claims and excessive damage awards, which they argue harm business interests and the economy by exposing would-be entrepreneurs to potential liability and driving up the cost of insurance premiums.

The second bill, Senate Bill 69, increases regulations on third-party sources of funding for lawsuits, requiring any third-party entities to be registered with the Department of Banking and Finance and limiting their ability to exert influence over the plaintiffs’ legal decisions, such as when and how plaintiffs settle a case. It also prevents foreign governments and adversaries from financing litigation.

Since the start of this year’s legislative session, Kemp has made tort reform his legislative priority, claiming it would reduce increasing insurance rates in Georgia. The Republican warned lawmakers that he would summon them back to Atlanta for a special session if “meaningful, impactful” changes were not made to the state’s civil justice system by the end of the regular session on April 4.

Emory Morsberger, owner of the real estate development firm Morsberger Revitalization, applauded the law’s passage. He said he manages two community improvement districts with about 1,200 business owners that have been flooded with petty lawsuits.

“And a lot of them are goofy,” Morsberger said. “It slows down business and wastes money. And the attorneys are basically looking to get paid the whole way.”

Brent Walker, general counsel for the Medical Association of Georgia, said physicians have been pushing for civil liability reform measures over the last two decades.

“So, with these reforms and balancing the civil justice system and changing the ways the rules of civil procedures work, the idea is that it will make medical liability cases much fairer in the court system because often times, regardless of the value of cases, they are the most complicated cases that our court system has. And it was really ripe for abuse the last 20 years,” Walker said.

“The rules were being used against our physicians unfairly, and our hospitals and allied health professionals. So, we feel that these reforms will help reshape the liability environment and work to reduce or restabilize our medical liability premiums,” he added.

Walker said Georgia is facing a severe shortage of physicians due to the skyrocketing costs of medical liability insurance.

“Patients are waiting four to six months to see a doctor in the metro Atlanta area. So, this will help us recruit physicians into our state and help retain our doctors here as well,” Debi Dalton, a pediatric emergency medicine specialist in Georgia, said.

However, Democratic lawmakers and personal injury attorneys opposed the overhaul efforts, arguing the legislation favors insurance companies at the expense of Georgia’s consumers and that awarding large jury verdicts is the mechanism that tort law uses to hold negligent companies accountable.

According to the Center for Justice & Democracy at the New York Law School, decades of studies examining insurance data show that tort law limits do not lower insurance premiums and that states with little or no tort law restrictions experience the same level of insurance rates as those states that enact severe restrictions on victims’ rights.

Georgia’s rising premiums result from other factors such as inflation, increased weather-related damages, and crime, not litigation, according to personal injury attorneys Zach and Melissa Meeks.

They added that insurance companies have not provided verifiable data and have remained silent on record profits in recent years.

“Let me be clear: If you were wronged in this state, you deserve to be made whole. And you still can be by bringing your claim before a jury,” Kemp said Monday.

“This legislation protects that very right. SB 68 and 69 simply brings transparency and fairness to a process that has been abused for too long, that has driven up costs of businesses and consumers alike,” the governor added.

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