Tort Reform-A Lightning Rod for A Politician to Win Votes and A US Senate Seat
Georgia Governor, Brian Kemp, gave a speech last week to the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. He wants tort reform. He wants insurance companies to make more profit. HE wants to limit the cost for trucking companies to buy insurance for their over the road negligence. He wants caps on jury verdicts.
Ironically, Governor Ron DeSantis pushed through a series of tort reforms in Florida that has just become law on July 1, 2023. Governor Kemp is watching closely.
Tort reform is a pseudonym for limiting negligence claims, limiting jury verdicts in all cases, limiting jurisdictional issues in tort-negligence cases, reducing statute of limitations issues, barring medical funding of auto and workers’ compensation cases that allow the injured person to obtain quality care while litigating his/her case where the insurance company denies all forms of treatment. I could go on. The result of tort reform is that any of its multi-pronged tenants hurts the little people like you and me. Tort reform is always good for business and insurance companies. Always.
Business is attracted to Georgia because Georgia is good to business and insurance companies. Governor Kemp will say (when marketing Georgia behind closed doors) that Georgia has few unions, workers’ compensation laws that heavily favor the employers and insurance companies, low taxes, lots of water and great infrastructure highways (I don’t know how much longer he can argue this one!).
In 2026, John Ossoff, one of our two Democratic US Senators will be up for re-election. Governor Kemp’s second term of office as Governor will end in November of 2026. No doubt he is positioning himself to run for the US Senate in 2026. He is very popular in Georgia and by pushing for items like tort reform he is hoping to build a war chest of money to use to campaign for the US Senate and to discourage other candidates from entering the race.
I represent the insured and disabled people and have done so for 44 years in Suwanee, Georgia. I do hope that the Governor’s next political advocacy policy will not be to attack the injured people of Georgia. Those folks cannot give thousands of dollars to the Governor’s campaign, but they can vote.
I believe that the Republican position in foreign affairs and in cultural issues is the preferred position to take for Georgia and for American at large. But Governor Kemp, if you plan to govern our fine state for the next few years, try not to hurt the common man, the consumer, the first time home buyer, the renters, the car buyers ands those who are injured or hurt through the negligence of others.
You ran for the Governorship as a common man so don’t forget your roots. Things will not be the same when you let business and insurance interests run you and this state. Be strong so I do not have to vote for John Ossoff, Democrat!