Offers of Judgment
Category RSS FeedBuyers’ regrets on Senate Bill 3
When the Georgia General Assembly passed Senate Bill 3 — the "tort reform" conglomeration — in February 2005, most of the legislators hadn’t even read the entire bill, most of its provisions were not discussed in any detail, and hardly anyone understood it. To say it had a lot of poor draftsmanship is an understatement. … Continue Reading
Reports from the field on use of offers of judgment
I have begun to hear anecdotal reports of insurance companies using low offers of judgment effectively in small soft tissue injury cases. In those small cases and particularly with lawyers who handle high volumes of small cases, the intimidation factor provided by the new OCGA Section 9-11-68 can be substantial.
At the same time, I … Continue Reading
Offer of Judgment rule may be substantive, for prospective application only, even though SB3 says otherwise
Senate Bill 3 says that the offer of judgment rule should apply to pending cases. However, a Florida case found that similar “loser pays” rule was substantive rather than merely procedural. See Timmons v. Combs, 608 So.2d 1 (Fla.1992) If followed in Georgia, that would exclude retroactive application in cases arising before … Continue Reading
Offer of Judgment rule gets little use in Georgia so far
A litte over two months after the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 3, my extremely unscientific survey indicates that the new new Offer of Judgment rule in OCGA 9-11-68 is getting little use. We are not seeing the kind of massive and abusive use of this rule that many of us had feared. I have … Continue Reading
Offer of Judgment Survey
The American College of Trial Lawyers published a 50 state survey, current through October 2004, of state offer of judgment rules. Click here to access a pdf copy of the survey.
Yost Deja Vu; wisdom of “no first use” policy on offers of judgment
Nineteen years ago, the Georgia Supreme Court decided the case of Yost v. Torok, 256 Ga. 92, 344 S.E.2d 414 (1986), holding that any party who brings or defends an action, or any part thereof, that lacks substantial justification or is imposed for delay or harassment, could be liable for a common law tort of … Continue Reading
Georgia tort reform — puzzling offer of judgment rule
Georgia’s tort reform legislation, Senate Bill 3, includes in Section 5 an offer of settlement / offer of judgment provision that, if carried to its full potential, will be extremely oppressive to middle class plaintiffs and may incur “mutual assured destruction” on both plaintiff and defense bars. Or, if a tacit truce evolves and … Continue Reading
