Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog
We are facing an urgent and time sensitive crisis in that is threatening our entire Georgia civil justice system right now in real time. I am asking every single person to today (it will take THIRTY SECONDS to do this), to click on this link below, and input your name and address which will automatically send a message to your legislator urging them to reject SB 68, the tort reform bill that just passed in the GA Senate on Friday and is headed to the House where it will likely pass and will destroy our civil justice system in Georgia as we know it.
https://georgiarightsalliance.org
SB 68 “the tort reform bill” is falsely advertised as an effort to “to stabilize and lower insurance premiums for all.” In reality, SB 68 contains no provisions addressing insurance premiums. Instead, the provisions of SB 68 target the rights of individuals to seek justice for wrongs and give companies immunity for their negligence. Wrongdoers will not be held responsible for their actions, and our legal and Constitutional rights will suffer. Insurance companies, not individuals who pay insurance premiums, will benefit from this bill. In fact, the bill will have the opposite effect than has been advertised. Insurance premiums in Florida went up over 30% after a nearly identical bill was passed last year.
The bill’s provisions regarding anchoring are unprecedented—prohibiting attorneys from discussing the value of pain and suffering will prevent injured Georgians from obtaining justice, especially those who have been subjected to injuries such as loss of life, loss of limb, rape, sexual harassment and sexual assault. In civil cases parties must be able to ask juries for a specific award amount. Uncertainty and wildly unpredictable results will ensue if they cannot do so. Unlimited stays of discovery will create an enormous backlog in the court system and delay justice indefinitely, hampering the justice system. The bill’s effort to undercut the 150-year-old collateral source rule, which means the person who caused the harm does not get the benefit of insurance the injured person purchased, is premium theft. It shifts the benefits of insurance premiums to the wrongdoer and will put people who pay for insurance at a disadvantage. The provisions regarding bifurcation are unnecessary – courts can already bifurcate trials where there is a reason to do so. Requiring separate trials for liability, damages, and punitive damages would be cruel to victims who would be called to testify two to three separate times in a single case. Insurance company profits should not take precedence over the rights of hard-working Georgians who become injured and have a right under the 7th amendment to justice through jury trials.
Nothing in the bill requires one dime of insurance premium reduction nor does it contain a provision that covers insurance rates. Rather this is an Insurance Profit Protection Bill and that makes it easier for insurance companies making record profits to deny valid claims, provides immunity to dangerous companies who can avoid liability when they hurt hard working Georgians.
SB 68 is a corporate power grab designed to protect insurance industry profits at the expense of Georgia’s citizens. SB 68 will not lower insurance premiums, improve healthcare, or create a fairer legal system. Instead, it will strip Georgians of their constitutional rights and make it harder for innocent victims to obtain justice.
SB 68 is a direct attack on the Constitutional rights of each of our loved ones, our wife, husband, our children, our mother and father who could someday be harmed without recourse if SB 68 passes. The Seventh Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees and protects you and your loved ones the right to trial by jury, a right also enshrined in Georgia’s Constitution and SB 68 undermines this fundamental right by erasing nearly three hundred years of Georgia law, and benefits billion dollar insurance companies over the people, the voters who make up the individual hard working Georgians that we represent on a day to day basis.
While insurance executives rake in record breaking profits this year, Georgia’s families, workers, and small businesses will be left with weakened legal recourse when harmed by negligence or misconduct. Everyday hardworking Georgians must stand together to reject this unjust proposal. But we need courageous Lawmakers to intervene on their behalf in order to protect everyday Georgians who make up their constituents, their neighbors, and their loved ones.
SB 68 will not lower your insurance rates, will not improve access to healthcare, and will not protect small businesses. What it will do is shield corporations from accountability and make it harder for injured Georgians to seek justice. We urge our lawmakers to reject these deceptive measures and demand real reform that puts people over profits. Georgia lawmakers must vote NO on SB 68.
Again, it will take one minute to input your name and address to send a message to your legislator: