Georgia laws limiting lawsuits, revamping jury awards held as national model

WASHINGTON — Gov. Brian Kemp said he decided to prioritize overhauling the state’s legal system because it was the last big item on his to-do list as Georgia’s two-term leader.

“We are seeing good results from what we did, and I think it was absolutely the right thing to do,” Kemp said Wednesday at a summit in Washington hosted by business and industry groups that championed those changes.

Last year, Kemp pushed two bills through the General Assembly limiting lawsuits and reducing the amounts juries could award in trial.

He took a victory lap at the inaugural summit, hosted by Protecting American Consumers Together, an organization created a year ago to advocate for “tort reform” laws like the ones passed in Georgia. The American Truckers Association, the American Hotel and Restaurant Association and other organizations, along with Uber and other companies, were participants in Wednesday’s one-day summit.

One focus on the summit was whether Georgia’s successes could be duplicated in other states and whether the intended outcome of lowering insurance costs by making reducing the likelihood of huge verdicts can be achieved.

Kemp said he never promised to lower prices, but he feels like the law will work as intended.

“We’re trying to stabilize the market,” he said. “Bring more competition into the market, and we feel like that could drive down cost and prices.”