loser pays

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Georgia State Capitol 1904

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce held a forum on tort reform last week. According to today’s Daily Report, Rep. Rich Golick, chair of the House Non-Civil Judiciary Committee who is a corporate attorney for Allstate Insurance Company in his “day job,” told the attendees:

“Go talk to the plaintiffs bar. … See if consensus can be struck,” he said. “I beseech you — it’s the middle of August and there is a run-off and a general election — now is a great time for quiet conversation in quiet rooms where consensus

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Do advocates of more “loser pays” rules offer a solution in search of a problem?

Are people unaware of the “loser pays” sanctions that are already part of Georgia law?

As discussed in previous posts, Georgia already has five statutory “loser pays” rules, four of which passed in tort reform legislation during the time I have been practicing law, and one we have had since the Civil War. Georgia needs a sixth “loser pays” about as much as it needs a sixth law school at a time when graduates of the existing law schools have a really hard time finding…

Brig. Gen. Thomas R. R. Cobb, father of Georgia’s first “loser pays” statute”

The oldest of the five “loser pays” rules in existing Georgia law has been in effect for nearly 150 years, having first appeared in the Code of 1863.

That Code was largely the work product of Thomas R. R. Cobb, son-in-law of Chief Justice Lumpkin and a foremost Georgia legal scholar of his day. He was a Confederate brigadier general who died at the Battle of  Fredericksburg only a couple of weeks before the Code for which he was largely responsible went into…

Advocates of tort reform often call for “loser pays” legislation. Georgia already has five different “loser pays” rules. In earlier posts I have discussed OCGA § 9-11-68, enacted as part of tort reform legislation in 2005, which includes both the offer of judgment / offer of settlement rule and the frivolous claims and defenses rule.

O.C.G.A. § 9-15-14, enacted in 1986, provides for a motion for award of fees and expenses against a party that had asserted a claim or defense “that lacked substantial justification or that the action, or any part thereof, was interposed for delay or harassment, or…

“Loser pays” is a popular theme among advocates of “tort reform,” many of whom may not understand what the popular political calls for “loser pays” or “tort reform” really mean in any detail. Perhaps some people who say they are for it do not understand that Georgia already has five “loser pays” rules that have been enacted in legislation over the years.

Yesterday I posted a summary of one of our “loser pays” rules, the offer of judgment under OCGA 9-11-68, which applies when a party rejects an offer of judgment or settlement and does not do at least 25%…

We hear talk of another round of “tort reform” legislation including a “loser pays” rule. But some of the folks talking about it may not realize that Georgia already has five different “loser pays” rules.

One of the five forms of “loser pays” rules in Georgia is in O.C.G.A. § 9-11-68. Passed as part of the 2005 tort reform legislation, it provides for an award of attorney fees and expenses against a party that refuses to accept a settlement  offer and at trial does not improve upon the rejected offer by at least 25%. See Smith v. Baptiste, 287…