Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Day 2 of the Legislative Session

In comparison with Day 1, Day 2 was decidedly eventful.

This morning at the Eggs and Issues Breakfast Governor Perdue called for more sweeping 'tort reform' measures in Georgia including,complete immunity from lawsuits for any Georgia corporation manufacturing medical devices or pharmaceuticals if the products have been approved by the FDA, a loser-pays provision requiring that the losing side in a civil suit pay the legal fees of the winning side if the case is dismissed "at the earliest possible stage," and testing the legal merits of a case before the process of discovery begins.

We could offer significantly more information on these bills had we been given notice that they were part of his agenda or if we could see the drafts.

Andy Peters over at the Fulton County Daily Report dug around and has some additional information available in his article online.

With the economy a mess, a budget shortfall and serious issues facing our state, why would Governor Perdue decide-- when folks are already facing hard times-- to eradicate citizens' Constitutional Rights?

Corporate immunity is not the answer to a flailing economy. The very idea of completely immunizing an industry basically erases any incentive for that industry to manufacture safe products-- because they no longer are accountable for negligence.

We are preparing our talking points and media plan now-- and we will post what we can when we are able to. Andy Peter's article indicated that the bills would be filed this week or by the 26th of January at the latest...

There will be more to come on this...

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