Articles Posted in Tort Reform in Georgia

The $350,000 cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases, which was enacted by the Georgia legislature in 2005 as part of an omnibus tort reform bill  known as SB3, faces another constitutional challenge this week. Yesterday, Fulton County State Court Judge Diane Bessen held the cap unconstitutional in the case of Nestlehutt v. Atlanta…

While Russia is cracking down on jury trials, the modernization of the Chinese economy has led to finding that tort law is really a good thing.  Whatever you may say about the Chinese, you can’t say they’re stupid.  Maybe they have figured out that our tort law system plays a valuable role in our free…

With the Georgia legislature back in session in Atlanta, I am reminded of how some lobbyists and a few politicians distrust their fellow citizens so much that they keep trying to erode the right to trial by jury in civil cases. Never mind that the Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution — part of…

In Atlanta this week, Georgia Governor Perdue made a surprise announcement that he will seek another round of tort reform  legislation, including a bill to stop “frivolous litigation.”  I deplore  truly frivolous lawsuits  as much as the Governor does. The language of the Governor’s proposal remains a closely guarded secret at this time. I look forward…

Representing individuals and families in cases of personal injury and wrongful death in Georgia, we deal with complex rules that the legislature tried to make more difficult in tort reform legislation in 2005.  However, in that hastily assembled legislation, the “law of unintended consequences” was at work. When the Georgia legislature passed that omnibus tort reform…

The U. S. Supreme Court may use a dispute over punitive damages awarded to a smoker’s widow for a broad review of when punitive damages are unconstitutionally high.  The jury awarded Mayola Williams $821,000 in actual damages and $79.5 million in punitive damages. The U. S. Supreme Court had previously sent the case back to…

Georgia is one of the states that has adopted a hard cap ($350,000 here) on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits.  Noneconomic damages include pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, etc. However, a catastrophic medical malpractice case with substantial economic loss may still result in a large recovery.  The death of a high income…

As a personal injury attorney in Atlanta, I was initially one of those who feared the worst when the Georgia legislature passed it omnibus tort reform legislation, Senate Bill 3, in 2005.   It was as if the political power structure had done everything it possibly could to kill victims of negligence — and the lawyers…

Last Friday,  an Atlanta jury returned a verdict of $54.4 million in a truck wreck case involving the death of a a Jamaican immigrant. It was a great verdict resulting from great trial advocacy. Of the $54.4 million in the verdict, $44.4 million was punitive damages. In my post about the verdict, I wondered how…

This morning I got a call from a man in ICU at one of our local hospitals. He said he has hit by a tractor trailer yesterday, and that he had two fractured femurs, a ruptured spleen, ruptured discs, crushed vertebra, etc., and asked if I could meet him at the hospital.  I agreed to…