ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp has made tort reform the main theme of his annual August address to Georgia political and business leaders two years running.
But his Aug. 7 speech at this year’s Georgia Chamber of Commerce-sponsored Congressional Luncheon in Athens had a different ring to it than the 2023 version.
Kemp followed up last year’s pledge to make tort reform a top priority by essentially pulling out the rug on the issue when he addressed the chamber again at the beginning of this year’s General Assembly session. He said significant tort reform would require more than one year.
Toward that end, lawmakers passed a Kemp-backed bill this year directing the state insurance department to gather data on legal trends affecting premiums and prepare a report by Nov. 1.
“The governor very smartly decided to take a step back and look at the data,” said Nancy Palmer, vice president of government affairs for the Georgia Chamber. “Lawsuit reform is a huge wide-ranging topic. We’re talking about the entirety of the civil justice system.”
Tort reform has been a goal of Georgia Republicans and their allies in the business community for decades. But the most significant reform legislation to make it through the General Assembly came way back in 2005, a bill that imposed a $350,000 cap on non-economic damage awards in medical malpractice and product liability lawsuits.
The cap immediately came under fire in the form of lawsuits challenging its constitutionality. The Georgia Supreme Court sided with the plaintiffs and threw out the cap in 2010.
Calls for tort reform have come like clockwork virtually every year since, with Republican lawmakers and conservative policy groups warning that huge jury verdicts from frivolous lawsuits are hurting job creation by forcing companies to close their doors.
“I hear stories every week from business owners who can’t get insurance or can’t afford it,” said Kyle Wingfield, president and CEO of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a think tank that advocates free-market approaches to public-policy issues. “There’s got to be more balance.”
Palmer said improving access to insurance is just as important to businesses as the premiums they have to pay for coverage.
“We have insurers who are leaving the marketplace,” she said. “What we want is for businesses not only to pay lower rates but to have more choices. … There should be more competition in this marketplace.”
Opposition to tort reform has come from trial lawyers and legislative Democrats, who have argued that Georgians injured by medical malpractice or faulty products deserve access to a legal remedy.
“Constitutionally, people have a right to their day in court, and appellate courts in Georgia have been protective of that,” said state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, a member of the House Judiciary Committee.
Oliver suggested that Republicans have been unsuccessful thus far in passing major tort reforms because many past governors and legislative leaders, including Republicans, have been lawyers who understand the complexities of the issue.
“What’s unique about this time is (neither) the governor, lieutenant governor, nor (House) speaker are lawyers,” she said. “It makes it easier for them to say they’re for tort reform.”
One reform Republicans are expected to pursue in 2025 is in the area of premises liability. Business owners have long complained about being drawn into lawsuits after injuries or deaths occur on their properties that are not their fault and, in many cases, occur at night when the business is closed.
“When someone shows up and decides to commit a crime on your property without your permission, how much do you have to do to prevent that?” Wingfield said. “That ought to be a common-sense place to start.”
Two bills pertaining to the premises liability issue were before the General Assembly this year, but neither passed.
Palmer said the chamber is looking to Kemp for direction on which tort reforms lawmakers should pursue in 2025. Next year begins a new two-year term in the legislature, so whatever is considered has to start from scratch.
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