Recent GeorgiaNews
MPL Severity on the Rise: A Gathering Storm
Although the number of medical professional liability (MPL) lawsuits, known as claim frequency, has decreased during the past decade, the average amount spent overall on claims, known as severity, continues to increase. Frequency did not spike even after the COVID-19...
August 2024 Newsletter
Health care advocacy groups push to pass Good Samaritan legislation A long list of members of the Health Coalition on Liability and Access supporting bipartisan Good Samaritan legislation is continuing to advocate for additional cosponsors, highlighting the need to...
Tort Reform Could Be Top Priority for Georgia Lawmakers, Gov. Kemp in 2025 Legislative Session
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...
Current Medical Liability Laws
| Damage Caps | $250,000 cap on punitive damages. (1992) $350,000 cap on non-economic damages for a judgment against all health care provider(s); additional $350,000 cap on non- economic damages for a judgment against a single health care facility; $350,000 cap on non-economic damages for a judgment against multiple health care facilities. Maximum total award of non- economic damages is $1.05 million. (2005) (Ruled unconstitutional Atlanta Oculoplastic Surgery PC v. Nestlehutt, March 2010) |
| Joint Liability Reform | Yes. Defendants are responsible only for their proportionate share of negligence. If the plaintiff is to some degree responsible for the injury or damages claimed, the judge must first decrease the damages based on the plaintiff’s degree of fault. |
| Collateral Source Reform | No |
| Attorney Fees Limited | No |
| Periodic Payments Permitted | Upon the request of either party, the court must establish a schedule of payments for future damages exceeding $350,000. |