There seems to be a war of words going on between the Georgians for Lawsuit Reform and the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.
It began when the Georgians for Lawsuit Reform issued a press release regarding the US Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform’s annual analysis of the legal climate in each of the 50 states. The release states that the report should be “troubling for Georgians as the state fell to 40th – a decline of sixteen places in just five years and an all-time low.” The release goes on to state in a headline that the “New Ranking is Bad News for Business Climate and Economic Development.”
However, the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association has a different opinion, calling the report “nothing more than an irresponsible propaganda piece that does a disservice to policymakers and (your) readership in general.”
In response to The Daily Report article, GTLA President Michael Prieto wrote, “This propaganda piece from one of the largest lobbying groups in the country ranked Georgia No. 40 out of the 50 states as a litigation venue. I would like to take a moment to address this ranking and just a few of the misrepresentations that it sets forth.”
“While the national group’s internal survey claims that Georgia supposedly has declined as a hospitable legal environment and thus presents an inhospitable business climate, the actual numbers paint a very different picture,” the letter went on to say. “As your readers know, according to numerous outlets, Georgia has been the No. 1 State in which to do Business for the past four years. As our state has evolved into a destination for growing and relocating corporations and international enterprise, our pro-business environment has become one of the cornerstones of Governor Nathan Deal’s legacy.”
Prieto went on to state, “Far too often, the US Chamber and its ilk perpetrate a fraud on the American public by creating out of whole cloth misinformation about the alleged motivations behind, and frequency of, civil lawsuits, resulting in a strained discourse over what should be a relatively straightforward issue.”
Prieto cites the National Center for State Courts in stating that Georgia is the 3rd least litigious state in the nation, averaging only 472 cases filed per 100,000 citizens (National Center for State Courts 2016).
“To put that into perspective, based on our state’s current population and the standard percentage of tort cases filed, less than one-half of 1% of Georgia residents will ever file a civil tort lawsuit. Again, that ranking is based on fact. The credibility of the information upon which the Daily Report’s article is based is highly suspect.”
According to the press release issued by the US Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform, the rankings measure the treatment of tort and contract litigation, venue enforcement, certification of class action suits, damages, discovery, evidence, quality of trial judges, fairness of juries and quality of the appellate courts.
“Increased litigation leads to increased prices for all consumers and largely profits only the lawyers bringing suit. We’ve seen dramatic changes in our criminal justice system thanks to Governor Deal’s leadership and foresight, now we hope to follow the same model to improve fairness and balance in our civil courts,” said Georgians for Lawsuit Reform Executive Director Kade Cullefer.
The release goes on to state that “There are solutions to these issues and Georgia must embrace them. Personal injury lawyers will no doubt oppose any reform.”
