ATLANTA (AP) — After years of stalled efforts to limit civil lawsuits, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Republican lawmakers are doubling down with a new push.
Supporters, most prominently business groups, call the state a “judicial hellhole,” and argue that businesses are being crushed by rising insurance costs driven by excessive lawsuits that have helped plaintiffs get big payouts.
“This issue is not about business,” said Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, a Dahlonega Republican. “It’s about every Georgian paying more and more premiums for their insurance. Whatever we can do to make it more affordable to own a home, operate your vehicle and protect your family with insurance, we need to do it.”
But opponents say there's no proof that lawsuits are closely linked to rising insurance rates and that limits will make it harder for injured parties to win justice in court.
“This is about trying to do some favors for people who hopefully will line your political pockets,” said Jen Jordan, an attorney and former Democratic state senator. “At the end of the day, Georgians are going to be hurt.”
Kemp in 2022 promised the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, one of his top allies, that he would seek to limit lawsuit costs, a push that many call “tort reform.” But he admitted in 2023 that the effort was complicated, and instead signed a law to gather data on lawsuit verdicts.
Even as Kemp held events to build public support ahead of the legislative session, which begins Monday, the Republican governor is having to contend with GOP lawyers in the General Assembly who make a living by filing lawsuits, Democrats who mostly oppose changes, and a state Supreme Court that has voided earlier limits.
One key issue is lawsuits against stores, apartment complexes and other businesses over crimes or injuries on their property. In one such lawsuit, Georgia mother Sheila Brooks sued Family Dollar and Dollar Tree last year after her son Lem Johnny Johnson IV was fatally shot at one of their south Atlanta stores.
Police say the shooter wasn't a Family Dollar employee, but the lawsuit alleges that Family Dollar knew about earlier incidents “involving gunshots, gunplay, assault, violent threats with weapons, and disturbing acts of violence" at and near the location. The store should have taken more security measures to protect their customers, the complaint said.
Supporters of lawsuit limits say property owners shouldn't be held responsible for the wrongdoing of customers and trespassers.
“If we fix this problem, Georgia could be a much easier, well-perceived place for businesses and their insurers,” said attorney Bill Custer. “It will fix our reputation as a bad-boy state.”
Nancy Palmer, a spokesperson for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, said Georgia’s legal landscape has driven insurance companies out, making it difficult for businesses to get adequate coverage. She said insurance costs have become “untenable” across industries, affecting day care centers, grocery store owners, pharmacies, low-income housing providers and others in urban and rural areas alike.
Darion Dunn, a managing partner at Atlantic Strategies, which develops affordable housing and is behind a micro community for previously unsheltered people known as “The Melody,” said insurance companies are raising premiums or denying coverage in areas they label as “high crime" due to concerns about litigation.
“Because of these rising insurance costs, we’ve had to walk away from projects that would otherwise have brought much-needed affordable housing," Dunn said.
Dunn wants to see lawmakers limit the amount of compensation people can seek for non-economic damages such as emotional pain and suffering. Georgia’s legislature capped such verdicts in 2005, but the state Supreme Court overturned the law in 2010 as unconstitutional.
The Georgia Trial Lawyers Association disputes the idea that insurance costs are rising because of jury verdicts, and said in a statement that “insurance companies have continued to raise premiums despite making record profits.”
To limit a property owner's liability, lawmakers could limit the kind of evidence lawyers can use to prove property owners knew about the risk of incidents like Johnson's killing.
Lawmakers could also instruct juries to assign a minimum amount of blame to the person who committed the crime. In an oft-cited 2023 case, a man was awarded almost $43 million in a lawsuit against CVS after he was shot in a CVS parking lot during an armed robbery. The jury found CVS 95% responsible for the shooting, the victim 5% responsible and assigned no responsibility to the shooter.
These kinds of large verdicts are rare, said Madeline Summerville, an Atlanta attorney and political consultant for Democrats. She said large verdicts often result when insurers refuse to settle cases they should, and while some cases are “frivolous,” most aren't.
“You can’t make legislation based on the fact that there’s a minority of folks that are trying to game the system and then convince all of the people of Georgia that that’s the majority of the cases that are coming through," Summerville said.
Summerville is particularly worried about changes to medical malpractice lawsuits, where people sue medical providers for botched work. If medical practitioners aren't held accountable, the level of care will decline, she said.
In a roundtable hosted by Kemp last fall, medical executives said insurance costs are rising and doctors fear working in Georgia because they might get sued. Van Loskoski, CEO of Stephens County Hospital in Toccoa, said the hospital couldn't recruit obstetricians because of the fear of lawsuits and stopped delivering babies in 2021. The hospital’s medical malpractice premiums then fell by 13%, Loskoski said.
Lawmakers also could consider other measures, including some similar to laws passed in Florida in 2023. For example, they could require attorneys to show jurors how much plaintiffs actually paid in medical bills, as opposed to “phantom damages” based on the amounts they were originally charged. Legislators could also order separate trials to determine who is at fault for medical damages and what those damages are.
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Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.
Charlotte Kramon, The Associated Press
