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Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signs tort reform bills into law. What does that mean? We explain
On Monday, Governor Brian Kemp signed into law Senate Bill 68 and 69, marking the culmination of a 20-year legislative effort. The bills comprise a comprehensive tort reform package, lauded by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, as a generational step protecting families, businesses, and the state's economy. "Today is a victory for the people of our state who for too long were suffering the impacts of an out-of-balance legal environment," said Governor Brian Kemp in a press release. "While there was great passion on all sides of this issue, I am grateful for the diligent work of Commissioner John King and his office in studying this issue, the leadership of Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones and Speaker Jon Burns, the unrelenting work of Senate President Pro Tempore John F. Kennedy and House Majority Whip James Burchett, as well as Chairmen Brian Strickland and Rob Leverett for leading a thorough review, and the thoughtful deliberation of our legislative partners in the General Assembly. "As a result of this collective effort and outpouring of support from Georgians of all backgrounds, Georgia continues to move in the right direction as we work to stabilize costs and compete for economic opportunities that will create good paying jobs for hardworking Georgians across our state." What is tort reform? Tort reform is a set of changes to the civil justice system that limit the ability of people to file lawsuits and the amount of compensation they can receive, according to Wikipedia. Supporters of tort reform argue that this will lead to fairer outcomes, while critics worry it could unfairly penalize victims. Here is a breakdown of the specific policy areas addressed by the legislation, according to the press release: Reevaluates the standard for negligent security liability ('premises liability') Truthful calculation of medical damages in personal injury cases ('phantom damages') Eliminates the ability to arbitrarily anchor pain and suffering damages to a jury ('anchoring') Bifurcated trials Allow a jury to know whether the plaintiff wore their seatbelt ('admissible seatbelt evidence') Eliminate double recovery of attorney's fees Eliminate plaintiff dismissal during trial Motion to dismiss timing changes Reforming and bringing transparency to third party litigation funding How does tort reform affect people? Tort reform basically gives new requirements for filing a lawsuit. It also limits the amount of recovery someone can get from a lawsuit, according to For more details about tort reform, visit Vanessa Countryman is the Trending Topics Reporter for the the Deep South Connect Team Georgia. Email her at Vcountryman@ This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: What is tort reform? Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signs it into law
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Southwest Georgia businesses try to make sense of tariff changes
ALBANY – Georgia businesses are preparing for higher prices and less competitive market products as the countdown to the Trump administration's 'reciprocal tariffs' ticks on. The state's railroads and highways, shipping containers and tractor trailers spent April trucking along, carrying a surplus of goods to meet the needs of inventory stockpiling amid the ongoing trade war. The U.S. is nearing the halfway point of a 90-day pause on hefty 'reciprocal tariffs' announced by President Trump on April 2. China was exempt from that pause, with Trump placing tariffs as high as 145% on Chinese goods. China fired back with a 125% tax on U.S. goods, but began evaluating trade negotiations with the U.S. at the start of May. Chris Clark, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce CEO, said the Chamber is seeing impacts on every sector in the state, from agriculture to film to small businesses, especially those retailers who get their supplies from Chinese distributors. In a mid-April report, the Georgia chamber listed recommendations for manufacturing, retail, agribusiness, the technology sector, and logistics and distribution. Some of these recommendations included using Georgia foreign trade zones, using Georgia ports, using technologies like AI to lessen supply chains for larger employees as well as stockpiling goods while prices are still down. 'No, 90 days is not enough time to insulate,' Clark said during an April 16 briefing. 'I think businesses need to be smart. If you can do just-in-time ordering, do it. If you can develop new domestic suppliers, do it.' The chamber CEO acknowledged that small businesses don't have the same resources to do this. 'We're suggesting that they go ahead and talk to their banks, develop a plan, and then try to secure additional capital so that they can stockpile or they can absorb some of the costs that they are considering passing on to consumers,' he said. Clark said it's a confusing time for everyone. He encouraged Georgian business owners to reach out to the chamber and their Congressman about impacts. 'We are asking the administration and members of Congress and our global partners to work quickly to re-establish stability, to lower barriers and to make it easier for us to sell our goods and products around the world,' he said. Industries across the country most affected are electronics, automobiles, furniture, wine and spirits, and clothing companies. Milan Patel, a local businessman who owns Bottom's Up! Wine & Spirits Boutique, among other businesses, said he's already begun stockpiling inventory, especially on liquors imported from Mexico. This includes many popular tequila brands, like Don Julio or Jose Cuervo. Patel said tariffs will have a downstream effect, even shifting consumer tastes. 'If tequila, let's say Patron, costs $45 and it has a 24% tariff, it's gonna be closer to $60,' he said. 'Well, people may not drink Patron anymore. So then what they do because you can't buy an American-made tequila, you then switch your taste … you'll drink a spirit that's made in this country.' Patel, who studied economics at the University of Georgia, said the current administration is using tariffs as a negotiating tool so it can reset trade terms for the betterment of America in the long-run. Although, he said, this doesn't come without consequences and 'short-term' pain. Construction at Patel's new Academy Sports location next to the Albany Mall has been steadily progressing, amid the panic around price increases. He said this project wasn't affected by tariffs because construction materials were purchased more than a year ago. He said construction projects that haven't taken off will most likely become more expensive. 'It's not going to stop construction,' he said. 'It's just going to be a little bit more of a Made in America construction product, and typically a Made in America construction product is a little bit more expensive.' Jud Savelle, the president of Bishop Clean Care, a local cleaning service, said tariffs have created instability in part of his business. In 2022, his business began distributing and selling commercial robotic vacuums under the brand 'Cobotics by Bishop Clean Care.' 'We moved in this direction because of the shift in labor trends in the cleaning industry,' he wrote in an email. 'As wages rose and interest in cleaning careers declined, we saw a need for automation.' However, Savelle said all robotic cleaning equipment is manufactured in China – good products with advanced AI systems. He said commercial robotic cleaning is still somewhat novel in the U.S., which means limited stock in this country. This makes new orders that are mostly imported, subject to any new tariff announcements at any time. 'Recent tariff announcements have created much instability in this industry, with most distributors unclear on how to quote prices for future orders,' Savelle wrote. 'Both our domestic and international partners have communicated their challenges with us, and we are all working very hard to adjust our business models to account for these wild swings.' Savelle said local businesses will be impacted based on their product categories and industry stability. Businesses that trade in low-value products with high-frequency sales are still able to acquire inventory that's been in the U.S. and won't see price increases yet. 'I expect they will begin to see the increase by mid-summer if healthy trade deals aren't met soon,' Savelle wrote. On the flip side, he said businesses like Bishop Clean Care, which trade in novel technologies or high-value items like equipment and vehicles, are already seeing an impact. Tariffs make Georgia's farmers more vulnerable as well, especially top exports like poultry, cotton, peanuts and pecans. Southwest Georgia is known as the pecan center of the world. However, pecan producers saw that title dip during trade wars between the U.S. and China in 2018 when Trump first imposed tariffs on the country. Then, the tariff was 10%, increasing to 25% by the end of 2018. Scott Hudson, president and CFO of Hudson Pecan Company, said at the time 90% of his pecans were going into China. Tariffs meant he lost the majority of that market to South Africa, as most of his customers began replacing Georgia pecans with South African or Mexican pecans. He said it got better two years later when the South African crop was were one of Georgia's largest agricultural imports to China before the 2018 trade war. Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan'We have not had the China market since 2018 unless one of our competitors didn't have a crop,' Hudson said. 'So the tariff essentially killed us then. But right now, it's essentially completely dead. We're not a market of opportunity. We're not a market of anything in the China market.' Hudson said it was a disaster in 2018 that taught him not to 'put his pecans all in one basket.' His company has diversified across other areas to make up for the loss of the Chinese market – starting a retail market, tapping into the Middle East or Europe, and holding back as much crop as possible to sell to the end consumer in local spots like grocery stores. Hudson said he's holding onto faith that U.S. leaders are making the best decisions for its farmers and businesses. 'Let's just hope that it's short-term pain that will help us a lot,' he said. 'We've got other markets that have charged import tariffs on American Ag products for centuries, and that's not fair. Maybe it's time we hold some of these folks accountable.' However, pecan farmers have been on a continuous uphill battle since 2018, not only with trade wars, but with the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters like Hurricane Helene. During Helene, pecan farmers lost as many as 40 to 90% of their trees. Hudson said farmers are still waiting on crop and disaster payments. 'It is a tough time to be a farmer,' he said. 'We're not asking for handouts and favors. We're just asking for some help that is due us.' Hudson said he hopes both sides of Congress can come together to address tariffs and trade deals. 'It's across multiple administrations and has not changed one single bit,' Hudson said. 'It shouldn't be a Democrat or Republican thing. It needs to be an American thing, and let's just get it figured out.'
Associated Press
30-01-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Georgia Republicans push to limit lawsuits. But would that keep insurance rates from rising?
ATLANTA (AP) — The pitch from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is simple: Putting limits on lawsuits will halt rising insurance costs. The reality, though, is more complicated. Changes could reduce liability insurance costs for businesses and commercial property owners. The evidence is mixed on whether it would drive large premium reductions for car and other types of insurance. And some researchers say efforts limiting lawsuits, often called tort reform, fattens insurers' profits more than it cuts the price of policies. 'The net impact is that it really improves insurer profitability,' said Tyler Leverty, a business professor who studies risk and insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. When Kemp unveils his proposals Thursday, the Republican governor is likely to keep leaning on his argument that everyone's insurance rates are increasing because unfair lawsuits are on the rise and juries are awarding excessive damages. The issue is Kemp's top priority this year after promising the Georgia Chamber of Commerce he would take action and instead pushed a law to have Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King gather data in 2024. King said that lawsuits are driving insurance companies to reduce coverage for retail businesses, apartment owners, drivers and others. He said business owners in areas that insurers label as high crime are among those struggling the most. Companies that offer low-income housing have also complained. 'Go down to southeast Atlanta and talk to the small convenience owners having to close because they can't find insurance,' King said. Are unfair lawsuits and big jury awards real problems? Some say there's no evidence that a nationwide litigation crisis is driving high insurance rates. 'I went in search of the data, and I have not found it,' said Kenneth Klein, a law professor at California Western School of Law. 'It's not to say it isn't happening. It's to say we cannot document it.' But Mike Iverson of Oakbridge Insurance and former president of the Independent Insurance Agents Association said insurance companies like predictability when determining rates and how to spread out losses. In a well-known case, a jury awarded a man almost $43 million after a shooting in a CVS parking lot in Atlanta, arguing the company should have strengthened security. In another case, a Jonesboro mobile home park was ordered to pay $31 million to the daughter of a man who was shot and killed there. Opponents note that few verdicts are that large and insurance companies are still profitable. They want lawmakers to demand more transparency on how they set rates. 'Whenever they want an excuse to raise rates or limit coverage they will always point to a verdict here and there and make all kinds of claims about how it's affecting their bottom line,' said Joanne Doroshow, executive director of the Center for Justice & Democracy at New York Law School. Studying how tort reform impacts premiums in other states is difficult because other factors are in play and there are different combinations of reform. Some saw benefits, but the research varies. What drives rates? Other factors that influence insurance rates include inflation, extreme weather, and the costs of labor and materials. It is normal for insurance markets to cycle through tough years where less coverage is offered as rates rise. In many lines of coverage, including those not heavily impacted by lawsuits, insurers in 2022 were less profitable in Georgia than in several other states, according to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. A spokesperson said over a longer period, though, nothing is abnormal about Georgia's fluctuations. King's report, using mostly auto insurance data, says the number of claims and the size of resulting payments have risen over the years, especially those involving lawsuits. Some numbers dropped in 2022 and 2023, but he said that was because the data is incomplete. King also found that a greater percentage of legal claims are resulting in payments that hit the maximum dollar amount a policy covers. The Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, which lobbies against tort reform, disputes King's conclusions. Risk consultant David Stegall said the number of claims is in line with Georgia's high number of car accidents. Both claims and payouts have mostly been stable or falling, especially when adjusted for population growth and inflation, he said. He also found that while Georgia residents pay between 11% and 68% more for car insurance than residents of other states, they are more than 200% more likely to be in an accident. Adam Willis, president of trucking firm F&W Transportation, said his company's premiums have doubled over the last 10 years while fewer insurers offer full coverage. His company also has been sued more often, he said. Defenders of the current system say the trade-offs of lawsuit limits are a bad deal. 'The governor says that limiting your right as a consumer will lower your insurance costs, but that is not only a bad idea for everyday citizens, it's just not correct,' said state Rep. Tanya Miller, an Atlanta Democrat.
