• Home
  • Who We Are
  • Priorities
  • States Comparison
  • Testimonials
  • News
  • Resources
  • Join Us

It’s Time For Georgia Citizens and Employers To Fight Back

Who We Are


The weaponization and abuse of Georgia’s civil justice system, and lack of balance in Georgia laws, has created a hostile environment for job creators along with unsustainable liability costs for employers and citizens.

Competitive Georgia is a coalition of more than 500 business owners and operators dedicated to
bringing much needed lawsuit relief for all businesses in Georgia.

Competitive Georgia is an incorporated, nonpartisan, not-for-profit 501(c)(4) with a board of directors governing its activities.

The rising costs. These frivolous lawsuits filed. It keeps small business owners like myself up at night. These are the things I got to think about. The rise in liability insurance, having to take money away from growing the business because I’m having to pay for an attorney to protect our business. At the end of the day, I’m going to have to shrink. Who am I going to have to lay off in order to pay for a frivolous lawsuit? I don’t have the money for that. I’ll have to tell someone and look them in the eye and say, “I’m sorry, I’m going to have to lay you off because I’ve got this lawsuit?” That doesn’t jive, not in my business, and not with the kinds of clients that I have.”

– Mae W., small business owner, Atlanta

“I think that the person who brought this suit really, they didn’t want to affect us. They thought they weren’t affecting us in the sense that they just knew it would go through insurance. They knew it would be a claim on our insurance and it would cost our insurance, but it wouldn’t really affect us. But what they don’t know is at the end of the day, it really does affect us because it causes every cost to go up. It affects all of us, and it really affects the small businesses. Because we don’t have deep pockets like people might think we do. We run on a very thin line as far as costs and expenses go. My husband and I are always the last to be paid on a project. And at the end of the day, when things are too expensive and we are running too tight, we don’t want to let any of our employees go.

– Carisse B., small business owner, Cumming

Lawsuit Reform’s Major Impact


ECONOMY
HEALTHCARE
INSURANCE
COURTROOM

Economic Growth & Defense of Small Businesses


Lawsuit relief is essential to reducing liability costs that deter businesses from investing and expanding in Georgia. By curbing frivolous lawsuits, Georgia can promote job creation and boost economic stability.

Protecting Healthcare Access & Affordable Healthcare Costs


High malpractice insurance premiums due to extreme litigation risks contribute to rising healthcare costs. A balanced legal system is particularly vital to attracting and retaining quality healthcare providers to serve rural Georgia communities.

Lowering Out Of Control Insurance Costs


The high cost of insurance coverage impacts nearly every industry in Georgia. With their backs against the wall, small businesses are forced to pay high premiums, unable to expand or pay their employees, and ultimately forced to pass these costs on to customers.


Making the Courtroom For the Injured, Not Lawyers


Greedy out of state billboard lawyers are exploiting Georgia’s court system for personal profit, costing families over $4,100 each year due to excessive litigation, known as the “Tort tax.” Our court system should prioritize citizens, not lawyer profits, by tackling frivolous litigation and reducing large contingency fees taken by personal injury lawyers and returning the money to the injured.

Legislative Priorities


The court system should exist to protect the rights of citizens (plaintiffs and defendants) rather than enrich the lawyers.

Lawyers sometimes use unrelated, high-dollar amounts to manipulate jury decisions regarding certain types of compensation (for example the cost of a jet or an athlete’s contract). This can lead to unreasonable awards, as there’s no clear connection between these values and the actual damage experienced by the plaintiff.

Trial lawyers should not be able to make ridiculous comparisons of pain and suffering to completely unrelated items. Economic damages, which are calculated based on actual quantifiable numbers like medical treatment, are wholly appropriate. Non-economic damages such as emotional distress are completely abstract and ripe for abuse by ‘anchoring’ the jury to a number with no relevant connection to the injured. This is wrong, and we have a chance to fix it.

Amend Georgia law to prohibit such comparisons. Lawyers would still be allowed to argue the type of harm experienced based on the evidence but could not
reference unrelated monetary values to influence the jury’s decision.
Additional changes to further protect the rights of citizens in the courtroom include: a tiered system for contingency fees, prohibition of paying referral fees to other lawyers and contingency fee sharing, and additional transparency to the court and inform juries
when litigation is underwritten or debt financed by private equity funds or other third parties.

Damage awards should reflect actual losses not inflated values.

Currently, jurors are told the cost of a plaintiff’s injury is much higher than the amount that was actually paid to treat the injury. When you’re being sued for an accident, shouldn’t the jury hear the actual amount it cost to treat the injury, not an inflated amount that no one ever paid?

When an injured person receives medical treatment, the provider of the medical treatment “bills” an amount to the patient. In nearly all cases, this is not the actual amount paid to/accepted by the care provider for the treatment – the “actual amount” is usually much lower than the “billed amount.” This is wrong, and we have a chance to fix it.

Amend the law to allow only the actual cost of medical bills to be introduced to the jury. Damages should reflect the actual harm incurred by a victim, not made-up, inflated values. A defendant should not be responsible for phantom damage amounts that were never incurred by a claimant. By capping quantifiable damages like pain and suffering and emotional distress at $500,000 and extending the punitive damages cap for manufacturers, fair compensation will be ensured without burdening businesses or defendants with excessive penalties.

The rules in our courts should be fair and equitable and must reflect best practices from the federal system and other pro-business states.

Georgia law allows a plaintiff to forum shop by going through nearly an entire case – all of the discovery and jury selection – and then dismiss the case if they do not like how the judge rules and refile the case in another court.

Following an auto accident, an individual files a lawsuit and goes through the entire procedural process with their trial lawyer. After several unfavorable decisions by the judge, the individual’s lawyer decides to dismiss the case and refile in another court in an effort to secure a more friendly judge who will allow the opportunity for a greater recovery sum. Current Georgia law allows trial lawyers to do this over and over again until they find a suitable judge and jury, costing the defending countless time and litigation expenses. This is wrong, and we have a chance to fix it.

Amend the law to follow the federal rule to prevent the plaintiff from shopping for friendly judges. The Civil Practice Act should be updated to: eliminate anchoring juries to excessive dollar amounts, plaintiffs should not be allowed to venue shop by manipulating the pre-dismissal rule, the jury should be permitted to apportion fault objectively without arbitrary influence, and a jury should be permitted to know when a claimant was not wearing a seat belt.

Eliminate strict liability for property owners when criminal conduct occurs on their property without their consent or knowledge.

Landowners are being sued when third party criminal conduct occurs on their property without their knowledge or consent, even when utilizing security measures like lighting and security guards.

During a busy evening at a popular restaurant, a criminal begins breaking into cars in the restaurant’s parking lot. The restaurant’s parking lot is well-lit, but the criminal is not deterred. While leaving the restaurant, a patron confronts the criminal and is injured. This individual sues the restaurant owner for millions of dollars. This is wrong, and we have a chance to fix it.

Amend Georgia law to protect property owners from the acts of criminals which occur on their property without their knowledge. Property owners should not be held liable for crimes on their property they couldn’t prevent or foresee. Eliminating this liability encourages responsible ownership and protects businesses from unfair legal exposure.

Neighboring States Comparison


Third Party Litigation Funding (“TPLF”)

Louisiana, West Virginia, Indiana, Montana and Wisconsin have all passed laws to create transparency around the practice of outsiders investing or debt financing litigation.

Forum shopping

Alabama, South Carolina and Mississippi follow the federal rule and prohibit voluntary dismissals after an answer has been filed. This prevents forum shopping when counsel dislikes the judge assigned or the jury selected.

Fee-splitting

Florida’s tort reform bill of 2023 requires that attorney’s fees received must be directly related to the hours invested in the case.

Small Business Owner Testimonial


Small Business Owner Lanny Allgood of Dublin, GA Testifies On SB68 To House Special Rules Committee


News



  • Florida vs. California Insurance, Round 2

    February 18, 2025

    Rates fall in the Sunshine State after DeSantis’s reforms, but they soar on the left coast.

    Read More


  • How will the Georgia Legislature impose lawsuit award limits?

    January 22, 2025

    Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John King speaks at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s Eggs and Issues event in Atlanta early…

    Read More


  • Tort reform tops Kemp’s legislative agenda

    January 14, 2025

    The new year brings a new legislative session and a new crop of issues to be debated in the General Assembly over the next three months. After the..

    Read More


  • Why Georgia’s latest push to curb lawsuits has business groups and trial lawyers at odds

    January 8, 2025

    ATLANTA (AP) — After years of stalled efforts to limit civil lawsuits, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Republican lawmakers are doubling down with a…

    Read More

Resources



  • Preparing for the 2025 Georgia legislative session

    View


  • Georgia Named Top 5 ‘Judicial Hellhole®’ for Lawsuit Abuse

    View


  • TORT REFORM: Gwinnett County slapped hard by Georgia Court of Appeals

    View


  • Tort reform and Georgia’s judicial nightmare

    View

Join Us


How will lawsuit reform help you? *(Required)
Consent(Required)
By providing your phone number and checking this box, you are consenting to receive marketing text messages to that number from Competitive Georgia. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Text HELP for help. Text STOP to unsubscribe. Terms & conditions/privacy policy apply: https://competitivega.com/privacy-policy

Competitive Georgia
PO Box 12077
Atlanta, GA 30355

Paid for by Competitive Georgia

Privacy Policy

Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

^ Return to Top