As Florida embarks on its legal reform journey, Sunshine State lawyers seeking big bucks are likely to eye greener pastures in Georgia, where multi-millions channeled into attorney legal services ads are feeding a system ranked as the nation’s No. 1 Judicial Hellhole.
Wrought with such landmines even as Georgia contemplates its own reform, the state’s changing legal landscape was addressed by American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) President Sherman “Tiger” Joyce in a June 6 interview with Georgia News Gazette.
While holding out hope that Georgia’s GOP Gov. Brian Kemp will succeed with his pledge of lawsuit reform, Joyce said the state’s current climate makes it ripe for a spillover of personal injury attorneys from neighboring Florida. According to Joyce, the good news for Florida may become bad news for Georgia, which in an ATRA report published on April 11 is reaching new heights of exorbitance on legal advertisement spending.
“We do think that there will be more of these lawyers migrating north into Georgia. It’s very reasonable to think that will happen…I think that litigation finds it’s home where it’s most favorable,” Joyce said. The timing of this exodus is uncertain, he added. That's because lots of lawsuits materialized in Florida right before GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis signed “a very meaningful array of reform proposals” in March 2023, creating “sort of this backlog of cases” in Florida that will take time to work through, he said.
If Florida lawyers cross the border, they will find a well-cultivated personal-injury arena already in play. According to ATRA's report, Georgia’s own attorney advertising has spiraled—with the goal of racking up new cases. One of the top spenders identified is Morgan & Morgan with $24.4 million invested in Georgia legal services ads in 2023—a sign of the state's "struggling legal climate and need for tort reform," Joyce said in a previous report by Georgia News Gazette on April 24.
How Georgia compares
Nationwide, an estimated $2.4 billion was devoted to more than 26 million local advertisements in 2023—up 5% from 2022, according to ATRA's report. In 2023, Georgia spent approximately $168.6 million on local legal services ads totaling more than 2.2 million advertisements ranging from print to spot TV.
“Georgia is not a small state but that's a lot of money,” Joyce said.
According to ATRA, this how is other states measured up in terms of money spent in 2023 on local legal services ads: California, more than $238.8 million; Pennsylvania, $161.9 million; Nevada, more than $137.2 million; New Jersey almost $105.3 million; and New York approximately $97 million.
Georgia specifically has seen a 38% jump in total legal advertisement since 2019 with personal injury lawyers accounting for most of these ads or 75%, according to the ATRA report. Significant spikes from 2019 to 2023 were: 113% for outdoor advertising (such as billboards) and 94% for radio ads (based on an average), the report said.
“I think it's pretty shocking to see how much is spent,” Joyce said, “It's quite extraordinary but it's not surprising because we see significant amounts of advertising everywhere.”
He said rampant advertising is part of the trial lawyer playbook, which residents observe evidence of every day. It targets major businesses especially in personal injury cases—whether it's legal action over the weed-killer Roundup, talcum powder, Zantac for heartburn or any number of consumer products, often spurred on by third-party litigation financing.
As a consequence cited by ATRA, each resident pays the equivalent of an annual “tort tax” of $1,372 because of excessive litigation. This figure climbs to $2,084 in Atlanta, the state’s biggest city where ads for attorney services are especially prevalent. More than $89.5 million was spent on local legal services ads in 2023 alone in the Atlanta metro area, described as ground zero for the ad blitz.
The deadly connection
Joyce told the Gazette that the real cost of legal abuses can be lives, as he cited statistics revealing some have stopped medications prescribed by their doctor after hearing of legal cases against manufacturers.
“I went to law school; I did not go to medical school,” he said. “I think the people who should be telling you or me whether we should or shouldn’t take a medication is not somebody on a billboard or on a television ad but it’s our healthcare professional. That’s why regulating that aspect of these plaintiff lawyer ads is essential, because it really stretches well beyond the idea of legal services and is getting into the practice of medicine.”
The ATRA report delves into the power of these ads to detour Americans from their medical course, citing a 2019 study by the Federal Drug Administration that found 66 had experienced adverse effects after halting a medication against doctor’s advice, which included seven deaths. According to ATRA, the Federal Trade Commission sent letters to various law firms in 2019, flagging solicitation of clients for personal injury lawsuits against drug manufacturers as potentially unlawful. Additionally, a Public Opinion Strategies survey in 2016 found that 72% of American saw these ads and one in four indicated they would immediately stop their medication if it was featured on such an ad.
Looking forward, Joyce holds out hope that Georgia will find its way to significant legal reform. “Georgia is the No. 1 Judicial Hellhole, and our hope is that we and other reform advocates can have success in changing that status as was the case in Florida…but that's going to take commitment to addressing significant issues and a general understanding of the nature of the problem, why lawsuit abuse affects not just businesses but everybody in the state.”