A.M. ATL: Big payouts

Morning, y’all! It’s a full moon tonight. If you gambol nude among the trees, make sure there are no Flock cameras around.

Let’s get to it.

META PAYS GEORGIA MILLIONS IN ADDICTION SUIT

(Tony Avelar/AP)

Georgia will receive close to $100 million in a sprawling settlement with Meta Platforms over claims the tech giant exposed young users to serious mental harms and misled the public about platform safety.

A total of 48 states will get a combined $18 billion from the suit, which is the largest state consumer protection settlement in history outside Big Tobacco settlements.

What you need to know about the settlement

• Meta owns Facebook and Instagram, and the lawsuit was based on claims the platforms designed addictive products that harmed young people.
• It’s a huge high-water mark in the swelling public desire to hold platforms accountable for the role they’ve played in fueling a mental health crisis among children.

The settlement also requires Meta (and, thus, Facebook and Instagram) to implement safeguards, including:

• daily time limits
• time-based restrictions for children
• stronger limits on filters and visible “like” counts
• more user-friendly parental controls

🔎 READ MORE: Attorney General Chris Carr says Meta ‘shouldn’t be the last’ company to be held accountable

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MARIETTA MAN BESTS LAW GIANT MORGAN & MORGAN

We’re very litigious today, aren’t we?

A Marietta man won $4.3 million from law giant Morgan & Morgan in a suit that reveals more about the cutthroat world of personal injury law in Georgia.

What happened

• Robert Wyrosdick was injured in a rear-end collision and said the firm settled the case for $45,000 without his knowledge.
• He then filed a legal malpractice suit, which he won.
• Wyrosdick said in the suit he had little information or communication from the firm, and wasn’t even clear that he had officially hired them.

Case volume, competition, commissions

This is where things get interesting.

• The suit alleged Morgan & Morgan lawyers are overloaded with client cases which are predominantly handled by non-attorney staff with little training and that the firm’s lawyers are incentivized to settle cases quickly at high volume to collect commissions.
• The firm’s Atlanta office alone settled almost 50,000 cases in the last five years, filings show.
• Personal injury law is a veritable jungle of controversy in Georgia. The AJC has previously reported on an ongoing issue where state lawyers say some of their colleagues illegally solicit clients after incidents.

Wyrosdick says he hopes the judgment will lead the firm to treat clients better.

🔎 READ MORE: More details about the case

GEORGIA’S POLITICAL MAPS TO BE REVIEWED … AGAIN

Redistricting maps displayed during a special legislative session at the state Capitol in 2023. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

An old redistricting fight over Georgia’s political maps must be reviewed in light of a recent SCOTUS decision that set off alarm bells among voting rights activists.

• The ruling from a panel of federal appellate judges has to do with Georgia’s 2021 maps, which a previous judge ruled had illegally weakened Black voting power.
• This latest decision was not unexpected. In fact, it’s one of the predicted results of the Supreme Court’s ruling this April, which made it significantly more difficult for critics to challenge what they deemed as unfair or discriminatory political maps in court.

Tuesday’s ruling will not affect the maps used in this fall’s midterm elections.

🔎 READ MORE: How partisanship and race overlap and add to the controversy

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

💬 Rick Jackson and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones are definitely still not cool with each other. (No surprise, given their acrimonious primary race.) Jones hasn’t endorsed Jackson and shot down a report that President Donald Trump offered to make him U.S. ambassador to Germany in exchange for getting behind his former rival. Jones said Jackson needs to make amends. Last month, Jones told the AJC he hasn’t even committed to voting for Jackson, much less endorsing him. Yikes.

🐘 U.S. Rep. Mike Collins’ son-in-law is still saying outlandish, violent, antisemitic Christian nationalist stuff online, even after reports of his hateful activity made headlines in July. Collins, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat against Sen. Jon Ossoff, is facing growing calls to address the issue man-to-man.

(Fun fact: The phrase “mano-a-mano” is often substituted for “man-to-man,” but it really means “hand-to-hand.” Important to know, lest you accidentally suggest a physical fight.)

FUN STUFF FROM THE AJC

(Broly Su/AJC)

Lots going on in the AJC newsroom and on the site! Behold:

📈 Introducing Georgianomics

We’ve launched a new business newsletter! Or, rather, our business team did. It’s led by our business editor, Scott Trubey, who’s a real gentleman. Every week, the team will break down what Georgia’s big business moves mean to you. Sign up here

🐊 Ask Drew Kann anything

Our environmental reporter Drew Kann did a bang-up job covering the Okefenokee’s successful UNESCO World Heritage Site bid. He’ll be live on Reddit today at 10 a.m. to answer any questions you had. Go ahead, ask him if he’s ever drunk swamp water. I know the answer. It’ll go down on the Georgia subreddit, which you can visit here

🎧 It’s Flagship day!

A new episode of the AJC’s news variety podcast “Flagship” (hosted by moi) drops today. Listen in if you want to hear a crazy story about divorce, or learn more about the glamorous life of an AJC data reporter. Listen on the AJC site or anywhere you get your podcasts. Just search “AJC Flagship.”

🛍️ Labor Day sale: 25% off at the AJC store

Get yourself a Lemon Pepper Wet shirt, a mug with a Mike Luckovich cartoon or a news-scented candle. Mmm, smells like anxiety. (They actually smell really good.) Shop here

NEWS BITES

Iconic actor Tim Curry dies at 80