We’ve never said there weren’t abuses on both sides of the tort system, or that there wasn’t room for improvement, but a lot of the “crisis” arguments for trashing the civil justice system seemed clearly overstated insurance industry propaganda. Now, a study of Texas Department of Insurance records dating back to 1988 debunks the argument that medical costs were soaring because of too many malpractice lawsuits. “We find no evidence of the medical malpractice crisis that produced headlines over the last several years and led to legal reform in Texas and other states,” said the study, conducted by law professors at the University of Texas, University of Illinois and Columbia University law schools. The only thing that jumped, they said, was the cost of malpractice insurance, which rose 135 percent from 1999 to 2003 likely because of financial pressures that had nothing to do with litigation. See article.
Johnson & Ward has been a leading personal injury and wrongful death specialty law firm in Atlanta since 1949. The founders of the firm were also among the founders of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association. Current partners include former presidents of the State Bar of Georgia and the Atlanta Bar Association.
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Ken Shigley, senior counsel at Johnson & Ward, is a former president of the State Bar of Georgia (2011-12). He was the first Georgia lawyer to earn three board certifications from the National Board of Trial Advocacy (Civil Trial Advocacy, Civil Pretrial Advocacy, and Truck Accident Law). In 2019, he received the Traditions of Excellence Award for lifetime achievement. Mr. Shigley was the lead author of eleven editions of Georgia Law of Torts: Trial Preparation and Practice (Thomson Reuters, 2010-21). He graduated from Furman University and Emory University Law School, and completed certificate courses in trial practice, negotiation and mediation at Harvard Law School.
