Amid heightened blowback, a push to limit lawsuits in Georgia moves forward
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s priority bill to limit lawsuits and large jury verdicts cleared another hurdle amid mounting pushback and is set for a House vote this week.
A number of House Republicans were skeptical, and not just trial lawyers. But Kemp made concessions, and the bill advanced out of the House Rules committee Tuesday.
Crowds of business owners and doctors swarmed the Capitol to back Kemp when he announced the proposal, also called tort reform. People who had sued businesses in recent weeks rallied as Democrats argue the bill is a handout to businesses and insurance companies.
Millions of dollars have gone into lobbying for and against Kemp’s package. Here are some reasons are people are concerned and how Kemp tried to address them.
Victims sound alarms
Kemp’s bill would require anyone who sues a business or property owner over misconduct or injuries on their property to prove the owner knew about a specific security risk and physical condition on the property, but didn’t provide adequate security. Business owners, trucking companies and others say they are threatened by expensive court verdicts or settlements.
Women who were sex trafficked and raped at hotels begged lawmakers to oppose the bill as written.
“Surely, the hotel would notice, with 40 cars coming in and out at any given moment … the girls walking around in their underwear, never alone, never speaking unless spoken to,” Michal Roseberry, a human trafficking survivor, said at a news conference Thursday.
University of Georgia law professor Jonathan Tonge, who litigates human trafficking cases, said nobody would have filed sex trafficking cases in Georgia under the previous bill. It made an exception for human trafficking victims, but it limited the kinds of complaints they could bring. That exception was expanded.
Kemp has signed several laws backed by his wife, Marty Kemp, to crack down on sex trafficking.
Would lawsuits still slow, and should they?
A man in a wheelchair testified at a news conference last week that he was paralyzed after people attacked him at an apartment complex that ignored pleas for stronger security. A lawyer and a mother shared stories of children who were abused at child care and recreational facilities where they said staff turned a blind eye to abuse.
Lawyers said the revised bill would still thwart many lawsuits for other victims, which have helped pay for health care and therapy.
“There has been no compromise, no matter what they’re telling you,” trial attorney Miguel Dominguez said. “Can you imagine just being raped at a hotel and not being able to have the same rights as someone who was kidnapped and trafficked out of that same hotel?”
Atlanta Democrats and lawyers Rep. Tanya Miller and Rep. Stacey Evans proposed a series of changes to the bill, including one to include other victims in the sex trafficking carve-out, but they were rejected.
Skepticism remains despite changes
The new version still makes some cases have separate trial processes for determining damages and liability, but it tries to make sure they happen quickly. Judges could also scrap the separate processes in a sex offense case if the plaintiff would suffer emotionally or if the lawsuit is for less than $150,000.
The bill also says that lawyers can offer monetary values to noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering if they bring the same values up in their opening argument and lets them ask prospective jurors about what they would be willing to award. It would let lawyers say whether someone wore a seat belt in a car accident in certain cases if a judge allows.
“Since the bill was introduced, our aim was to craft a bill to provide relief while preserving the opportunity for plaintiffs to have their full day in court,” Senate President Pro Tem John Kennedy said Tuesday.
The bill still makes people show whether they had health insurance or other assistance paying a medical bill. Lawyers and doctors dispute whether fair compensation is the face value of a medical bill or only the portion an individual directly paid.
Opponents still question whether a number of problems the bill claims to address exist, and if it would actually solve them. For example, Kemp has said his plan will stabilize insurance rates, but many experts say the evidence for that assertion is shaky.
“It’s the same talking points, same manufactured crisis, same players that come in,” said Miller, the Atlanta Democrat. “The problem with the anecdotal evidence is that’s not actually how you study a complex problem.”
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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.
By CHARLOTTE KRAMON
Associated Press/Report for America
