ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp signed two tort reform bills into law Monday afternoon. The governor made the legislation a priority and believes it will lower insurance premiums and frivolous lawsuits.
“Today is a culmination of the process that began nearly two years ago,” Kemp said. “The calls for change came from every sector of Georgia’s economy. The status quo was simply unacceptable.”
Insurance rates have increased rapidly in recent years.
The main bill would limit when property and business owners can be held accountable for injuries and crimes committed by third parties on their property.
Channel 2’s Michael Doudna spoke with Fire and Insurance Commissioner John King, who said he expects the legislation to lead to lower premiums.
“I expect this office to get requests to get decreases of 3% to 5%, because now we have made it more predictable for insurance companies to see what their losses are going to be,” King said.
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However, victims worry about what it could mean for them.
“If it wasn’t already difficult before, it certainly is now,” Christopher Murad said.
Murad was a swimmer and member of ROTC at Georgia Tech when he was shot during a robbery.
The injuries left him paralyzed from the waist down, but he said the results of a three-year lawsuit made living possible.
“Companies that have awareness of crimes going on their property but do nothing about it need to be held liable,” Murad said.
However, personal injury attorneys like Alex Weatherby worry that the new law will hurt the ability of people like Murad to hold companies accountable in the future.
“The biggest issue is it has completely eliminated negligence security cases,” Weatherby said.
The governor maintained victims will be able to sue, but Weatherby says under the law, the cases put a nearly impossibly high bar to clear legally.
“Let me be clear, if you are wrong in this state, you deserve to be made whole, and you still can be by bringing your claim before a jury. This legislation protects that very right,” Kemp said.
“It’s like he’s put it so high, it’s like putting the high jump at 30 feet and saying you theoretically could do it,” Weatherby said.
Now, lawmakers did make a carve-out for victims of sex trafficking, but Weatherby said that shows some of the problems with the bill.
“For you have to make a carve-out for sex trafficking victims-- that shows how poor the law is. What about a murder victim? What about a rape victim? Those people don’t have any recourse at all,” Weatherby said.
However, for the governor and supporters, this legislation is needed to control the cost of insurance premiums and lower frivolous lawsuits.
“Simply bring transparency and fairness to a process that has been abused for too long and has driven up costs for businesses and consumers alike,” Kemp said.
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