With wind in its sails from the recent repeal of Indiana’s “seatbelt gag rule’’—and other victories nationwide, the American Trucking Association (ATA) has pledged to keep the momentum going on a similar reversal in Georgia.
In taking this significant step toward civil justice reform on March 11, Indiana may realize the effect of chopping "jackpot justice" awards down to size. The repeal lifts the veil of silence on whether those waging litigation failed to buckle up in accordance with the law and whether this exacerbated their injuries.
For the ATA, the nation's largest trucking coalition, reversing the gag rule is key to judicial balance and curtailing frivolous and abusive awards against members, according to a statement released the day after Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed the law.
In an interview with GA News Gazette, David Bauer, ATA vice president of state and tax policy, said Georgia remains a target for change. He voiced a commitment to eradicating what has been called an archaic law wherever it continues to keep jurors in the dark and jackpot awards are at stake.
Seeing Georgia’s state climate as favorable for reform at last, Bauer said, “Governor Kemp earlier this year promised significant tort reform efforts in Atlanta next session, and we intend to be a part of that push.”
He acknowledged that Indiana’s victory was a lengthy road that the ATA hugged in its quest for reform—a lesson ATA hopes to follow in Georgia. The goal is to ride the momentum of repealed gag laws in West Virginia, Louisiana and Indiana to ensure its members, when sued, can provide a complete defense—not one inhibited by the gag rule.
This reform would not only benefit ATA members but could impact the legal landscape for all drivers, especially if it results in reduced insurance rates.
For many Georgia drivers, as reported April 18 in GA News Gazette, the issue hits hard in the wallet, with a 22% spike in car insurance rates from 2022 to 2023—that’s more than $356 per year—according to MarketWatch. Yet, how judicial reform can curb these costs remains to be seen.
“This is a question we’re asked quite often—and it’s difficult to answer with precision,” Bauer said. “Insurance companies are very protective of their proprietary data and don’t generally share with anyone (including ATA) the reasons and data behind exact rates.”
Still, he said, it’s likely that seatbelt shirkers would draw smaller awards—if their neglect contributed to injuries, and lower risks for insurance companies can mean lower consumer rates.
But is axing the seatbelt gag rule enough?
Bauer also expressed hope that Georgia may go beyond seatbelt disclosure as part of the governor’s reforms and tackle medical damages transparency just as Florida did last year. In fact, the ATA website sheds further light on the types of reforms needed to make a difference as it names several contributors to “nuclear and disproportionate verdicts that are causing industry-wide economic harm.”
Included on the hit list are phantom damages—which can inflate lawsuits because they don’t reflect what an injured party spent after medical insurance kicked in; unlimited damages for noneconomic factors like pain and suffering; and third-party litigation financing, in which investors treat lawsuits like the stock market.
Bauer said that transforming Georgia’s legal climate comes down to persistence as the Indiana case demonstrated. “I would say that persistence often pays off in state legislative affairs. This was the fourth session that our coalition pushed this issue in the Indiana statehouse,” he said.
Working with a new committee, ATA gained success with its “commonsense argument” in favor of the repeal, Bauer said, noting “sometimes it does take a few years to familiarize an issue with key state lawmakers and educate them on the effect reform would have. In this case, that’s exactly how it worked out.”
The word commonsense is one that comes up repeatedly in the fight against the seatbelt gag rule and was expressed by ATA President Chris Spear in a press release after Indiana’s decision. Spear also described the gag rule as “a legacy of a bygone era when seatbelt use wasn’t common and the safety benefit wasn’t universally accepted like it is today.” Today seatbelt use—mandated by law in all states but New Hampshire—has climbed to the upper 90th percentile in Georgia, and Bauer sees no reason for progress to ebb.
As reported in GA News Gazette on March 13, the Georgia Supreme Court wrote that the state's seatbelt gag rule "likely violates the due process rights of auto manufacturers defending crashworthiness cases," but refrained from calling it unconstitutional. No such restraint was exercised by the American Tort Reform Association which named Georgia the nation's No. 1 "Judicial Hellhole" for 2023, the article also said.