New tort reform provisions facing attack in Georgia

The state's Supreme Court will hear challenges of venue-selection laws stemming from two medical liability cases.

By Mike Norbut, AMNews staff. Nov. 14, 2005.

Recently passed tort reform provisions have come under fire in Georgia, as plaintiffs in two medical liability cases are asking the state's Supreme Court to throw out laws that give defendants more say in where cases can be tried.

One challenge targets a medical liability reform provision allowing defendants in malpractice cases to seek to transfer a case to their home county, provided that is where the alleged incident took place.

Georgia physicians favored such a measure, especially in situations with multiple defendants, because it would prevent "venue-shopping" by plaintiffs' attorneys.

The challenge stems from a medical liability case involving Bart Turner, a 58-year-old who had a heart attack and is now disabled, according to court documents. Turner alleges that the emergency department physician misdiagnosed his chest pains as acid reflux and sent him home. He is seeking damages from the physician, as well as Emory Cartersville Medical Center in Cartersville, Ga., and its parent company, Emory Healthcare.

The lawsuit originally was filed in DeKalb County, but the hospital filed a motion to transfer the case to Bartow County, where the hospital is located. The trial court judge denied the motion, however, ruling that the new law would narrow the plaintiff's venue options in an unconstitutional manner.

The plaintiff's attorney argues that the judge made the correct decision. But the defendants say the court is wrong -- the new law provides fairness, not inequity, to the justice system.