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Last February, legal
reform supporters celebrated the enactment of sweeping
legislation that curbed some of the worst abuses of the trial
bar. Perhaps we should have kept the champagne on ice a little
longer.
The trial lawyer
industry, deeply stung by the General Assembly's reasonable and
highly popular response to legal abuse, has stormed the courts
in an attempt to reverse the reform.
Georgia's business
community, which played a central role in getting these reforms
through the political process, needs to recognize the battle is
far from over. Unless legal reform supporters respond forcefully
and consistently, we will find ourselves right back where we
started.
The trial lawyers'
counterattack is targeting three crucial areas.
One is the effort to
rein in venue shopping -- the process by which lawyers file
suits in friendly courts even if the alleged offense took place
far away. The 2005 Tort Reform Act fixed this long-standing
abuse by compelling plaintiffs to bring the lawsuit in a county
in which a real defendant actually resides, or where the harm
occurred.
Another reform in the
trial lawyers' crosshairs is a provision stating that when
plaintiffs reject a settlement offer and fail to win at least 25
percent more in trial, they must pay the defendant's legal fees.
This reform reduces congestion in the courts by bringing suits
to the quickest possible conclusion. The trial lawyers don't
like it because they often reject reasonable offers in order to
grope for more dollars -- and, of course, higher legal fees.
The third targeted
reform involves what are known as the Daubert expert witness
standards for state courts -- the same standards used in federal
courts. These standards simply state that when you introduce
"expert testimony" into a trial, that expert had better be an
expert.
How bad do the trial
lawyers want to win? One sign of their determination is that
they have hired up well-known Republican lobbyists to twist arms
-- sorry, attempt to convince -- fellow Republicans to undo
these reforms in January.
We shouldn't be
surprised by this backlash. These reforms have put the trial
bar's profitable business model at risk. It is our
responsibility, both as business people and state citizens, to
make sure any modifications to this legislation keep the
essential reforms in place.
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