Debate over Georgia’s tort laws pits pro-business forces against defenders of public’s court access • Georgia Recorder

Bad news – Georgia is officially a hellhole.

That’s the verdict from the American Tort Reform Association, which ranks states and localities for its annual “Judicial Hellholes” list of places where they say the courts unfairly favor plaintiffs in civil cases.

Tort is a legal term for an act or omission that causes harm or loss – examples could include a surgeon who performs the wrong procedure on a patient or a mechanic who leaves a puddle of oil on the shop floor leading a customer to slip.

Proponents of tort reform say too much leeway toward the people claiming injury is bad for business because it jacks up insurance prices and prevents startups from starting up. Opponents, including trial lawyers, say the law should protect everyday people from harm and that the problem has more to do with greedy insurance companies than Georgia tort law.

The Peach State ranks No. 4 for judicial hellholes nationwide, according to the list. Georgia is behind Pennsylvania, New York City and South Carolina – where the report’s authors say a judge has a clear bias against corporate defendants in asbestos litigation.

The association says Georgia is the state with the fourth highest per capita rate of “nuclear verdicts,” payouts of $10 million or more in personal injury cases.

In one case cited by the association, a jury awarded a $16 million verdict against Amazon following a 2022 incident in which an 8-year-old suffered serious injuries after being struck by a delivery van in Gwinnett County. Amazon argued in part that the driver was employed by another company that contracted with Amazon. The association says the case was the first of its kind in Georgia holding Amazon liable as an employer for a driver employed by another company on the theory that Amazon had not sufficiently trained the driver.

In another case, a man was awarded $45 million after he was shot and severely injured in a CVS parking lot after arranging a meeting to purchase an electronic device. The victim’s lawyers said the CVS, which was in a high-crime area, had a responsibility to keep its premises safe, but reform advocates said the award is excessive and call it absurd that a jury assigned 95% of liability to CVS, 5% to the victim and none to the shooter.

“Georgia’s courts have become a breeding ground for excessive verdicts that not only hurt businesses but drive up costs for everyone,” said American Tort Reform Association president Tiger Joyce. “It’s time to put an end to lawsuit abuse and make Georgia’s legal system work for everyone — not just trial lawyers.”

But if the smell of sulfur and brimstone seems a little less pronounced than it did this time last year, that may be because Georgia’s No. 4 rank is an improvement over 2023’s ranking, which Georgia topped.

Part of Georgia’s boost comes from Gov. Brian Kemp pledging to prioritize reform next year and holding a series of roundtable discussions where business leaders talked about the issues they faced.

In a series of meetings which ended in October, Kemp framed tort reform as necessary to Georgia’s economy.

“As the No. 1 state for business for 11 consecutive years, we have always made it a priority to foster a pro-business environment that empowers job creators to create opportunity for the hardworking people of Georgia,” he told reporters at the time. “The unfortunate reality is our current litigation climate has led to increased costs for consumers and a higher barrier to entry for those who want to create jobs in our state. As we prepare to address this issue, these listening sessions have allowed us to hear from a diverse group of stakeholders who have shared thoughtful input that will inform our next steps.”

The governor has continued to say that tort reform will be a legislative priority for him next year. Lawmakers haven’t yet unveiled specifics, but Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, House Speaker Jon Burns and Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John King have also indicated openness to changing Georgia’s tort laws in the next session, which is set to begin Jan. 13.

To Hell with that

But trial lawyers and other advocates say characterizing Georgia as a hellhole is drama queen behavior. They say tinkering with the system could make it easier for big corporations to disregard everyday Georgians without facing any consequences.

Former state Sen. Jen Jordan, an attorney who ran for attorney general as a Democrat in 2022, said the system is designed to let people look out for their peers.

“The civil justice system actually comes from a conservative place, where our community, the jurors in our community, people in our community, can make the decision as to what we think is appropriate behavior or what the community standards are,” she said. “We don’t want government coming in and telling us what that is, and so it’s really kind of an answer to the regulatory pushback to say we don’t want government coming in and telling us what to do.”

Jordan said tort awards can also represent taxpayer money saved if the victim would otherwise need to rely on taxpayer-funded programs to survive.

“In terms of the money, what you have to look at is if somebody is really hurt by virtue of someone else acting negligently, at the end of the day, somebody’s going to pay for that care, and with respect to somebody who may be catastrophically injured, that means it’s going to go on the taxpayers’ bill if they’re not able to get compensation from the person who actually harmed them,” she added.

Trial lawyers also argue that eye-popping payouts are often the result of insurance companies going to court instead of just settling like they ought to.

“People don’t necessarily realize that the reason why these cases go to trial is because the insurance companies haven’t settled them,” said Madeline Summerville, an Atlanta-based attorney and trial consultant. “So the reason why they end up with quote-unquote ‘nuclear verdicts’ is because the insurance companies made a bad decision and the jury saw it and understood it and they’re like, ‘Why are we even here?’”

Summerville said Georgia’s conservative lawmakers tend to relish the opportunity to cut regulations, but those regulations are often in place for good reasons.

“In reality, a lot of these regulations that are imposed are protections,” she said. “They’re for people’s safety, and they mostly, in the vast majority of the time, impact big business. There’s been this sort of calculated campaign in legislatures all over the country over the last 20, 30 years that’s convinced people – because the big corporations are the ones that could pay for the lobbying – that regulations are bad, when they’re really here to protect us and make sure that we stay safe, or that the environment stays safe, or that somebody who works at a company doesn’t end up totally getting screwed because they got hurt.”