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March 4,
2004
The General Assembly was in
"recess" yesterday but did hold various Committee meetings. The comments below
outline various events from today and information on the various meetings which
have taken place since the last Report on March 2, 2004. The General Assembly
will be adjourned until next Tuesday, March 9, 2004.
Floor News
The most important
news is that both Chambers have passed a new schedule for the next few days –
only lengthening the process. The General Assembly will take these "off" days
to work on the FY 2004 Supplemental and FY 2005 Budgets. It is very likely that
the Conference Committee will begin meeting on Friday morning and perhaps work
some over the weekend to hammer out details on the FY 2004 Budget.
The House had a
lengthy agenda today and handled all of its bills. The House Taskforce on Civil
Justice also introduced an omnibus bill with a number of provisions included to
address the "tort reform" issues. The new tort bill authored by the Taskforce
appointed by Speaker Coleman is HB 1712 (more below).
Its bills ran the
gamut from dealing with Superior Court Clerks' retirements to selling lottery
tickets. Some of the other bills dealt with were:
HB 1138 –Defines
the offense of smoking in a motor vehicle with a child in a car seat. This bill
passed.
HB 1265
–Establishes temporary post-graduate training permits for physicians who have
graduated from medical schools but are in their residency or intern programs.
The Senate also
had a lengthy agenda of bills. However, the most debate attended SB 507, the
anti-smoking bill, which cleared the Senate with two amendments. The first
amendment exempted bars whose alcohol sales are 80% of total sales and the
second exempted offices with fewer than seven employees. Otherwise, SB 507, the
Georgia Smokefree Air Act, passed by a vote of 45 to 7 and is now headed to the
House. Additionally, the Senate passed out SB 532 which defines and updates
“electronic transmission” for business corporations. After Sen. Clay presented
the bill, with a little questioning by Sen. Steve Thompson, the bill passed
unanimously with a vote of 48 to zero.
New Legislation
HB 1712 – Reps. Porter, Bordeaux, Parrish,
Burkhalter, Morris and others have co-authored these amendments to Titles 9, 24,
33, and 51 to provide for a number of "substantive and comprehensive" revisions
to provisions regarding the Civil Practice Act including evidentiary matters and
liability in tort actions. Some of the bill's provisions include:
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Civil case information filing forms for actions filed in
superior or state courts so that a clerk may not accept a new action without
the accompaniment of such form (this will also include a domestic relations
action). See O.C.G.A. § 9-11-3.
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Signatures on pleadings have also been amended so that
every pleading and other document must be signed by at least one attorney of
record or the party. It must also bear the signer's address and telephone
number (if any). Unsigned pleadings are to be stricken unless omission of the
signature is corrected within 30 days of notifying the attorney or party in
writing. See O.C.G.A. § 9-11-11.
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Representations to the court have also been added as a new
subsection (b) to O.C.G.A. § 9-11-11. This means that 1) it is not being
presented for any improper purpose (like harassment) or to cause unnecessary
delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation; 2) claims, defenses and
other legal contentions therein are warranted by existing law or by a
non-frivolous argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of
existing law or the establishment of new law; 3) allegations and other factual
contentions have evidentiary support or, if specifically identified, are
likely to have evidentiary support after a reasonable opportunity for further
investigation or discovery; and 4) denials of factual contentions are
warranted on the evidence or, if specifically identified, are reasonably based
on a lack of information or belief. This will not apply to discovery in
cases.
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Sanctions are also addressed for when attorneys, law firms,
or parties have violated such representations to the court. O.C.G.A. §
9-11-11(c).
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Requirements governing answering interrogatories are also
amended so that each interrogatory must be answered separately and fully in
writing under oath, unless it is objected to, in which event the objecting
party shall state the reasons for objection and shall answer to the extent the
interrogatory is not objectionable. See O.C.G.A. § 9-11-33.
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The option to produce business records is also amended
requiring that a "specification shall be in sufficient detail to permit the
interrogating party to locate and to identify, as readily as the party served
can locate, the records from which the answer can be ascertained." See
O.C.G.A. §9-11-33(c).
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Changes are also made governing the law on productions of
documents and things so that the objecting party shall be required to state
the reasons for objecting and shall respond to the request that it is not
objectionable.
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Changes are also made in O.C.G.A. § 9-11-37 pertaining to
motions to compel filed in discovery matters. The bill addresses the question
of who must pay expenses if the motion is granted. Likewise, it addresses
instances where the motion is denied. It does add language that "in the event
any attorney, representing the insured, to whom the provisions of this
subparagraph may apply is an employee of the insurance company, the provisions
of this subparagraph shall also apply to the insurance company." Similar
amendments are made when sanctions have been applied, when a party fails to
attend his or her own deposition or serve responses to interrogatories or
respond to requests for inspection.
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Requires that a civil disposition form be filed when
judgment is filed with the court. This will apply to domestic relations
matters also. See O.C.G.A. § 9-11-58.
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The bill also amends O.C.G.A. § 9-15-14 concerning
litigation costs and attorneys' fees assessed for frivolous actions and
defenses. There may be applied reasonable sanctions to both a party as well
as an attorney or both. Such will also apply to an insurance company. The
bill also outlines how to apply for a motion for sanctions in this Code
Section.
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O.C.G.A. § 24-9-67 is amended concerning opinions of
experts so that "except as provided in Code Section 24-9-67.1, the opinions of
experts on any question of science, skill, trade, or like questions shall
always be admissible; and such opinions may be given on the facts as proved by
other witnesses. The bill adds this newly referenced Code Section reflecting
opinions of an expert as to the standard of care of the defendant whose
conduct is at issue with the following requirements: 1) was licensed by an
appropriate regulatory agency to practice his or her profession and was
practicing or teaching or some combination thereof his or her profession for
at least three of the last five years immediately preceding such time; and 2)
meets at least one of the following: A) the expert shares at least one
specialty certification with the defendant; B) the expert has experience in
the diagnosis or treatment of the condition at issue, the performance of the
procedure or procedures at issue, or the provision of the services at issue;
or C) the expert has experience in an area of practice or specialty that
diagnoses, treats, or cares for patients under similar conditions or
circumstances as are at issue. The bill also outlines the process for
objecting to experts.
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There are new Code Sections added at O.C.G.A. § 33-23-40.1
and O.C.G.A. § 33-24-47.2. These are to deal with the procurement of medical
malpractice insurance and are to require an insurer to send a notice of
cancellation or non-renewal to an insured on a medical malpractice insurance
policy to have such notice sent 60 days prior to the termination date of the
policy.
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Emergency room liability provisions are also addressed in a
new Code Section in 51-2-5.1. The hospital will not be liable for the acts or
omissions of an emergency room physician who is an independent contractor. A
notice is required to be posted in the emergency room admitting areas
concerning the exemption from liability.
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This will apply to any civil actions arising on or after
July 1, 2004.
Committee News
The Senate Judiciary Committee
was slated to meet this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Several Members of the Committee
appeared for the meeting but Chairman Tanksley never got a quorum to take
action. Thus, he announced that another meeting will be held with the same
agenda next Tuesday, March 9, 2004. The bills on today's agenda which will be
carried until next week are:
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SB 284 (Drug Trafficking Prevention Act)
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SB 414 (Criminal trial procedures)
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SB 225 (Frivolous Litigation Act, which will not be heard
next Tuesday at the author's request)
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HB 502 (Juvenile Court Judges compensation)
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HB 1441 (Controlled substances – ecstasy trafficking)
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HB 1519 (Common Sense Consumption Act)
During the same time the Senate
Judiciary Committee was meeting, the Senate Ethics Committee was slated to meet
to take up the Governor's Ethics Bill, SB 517.
The House Insurance Committee
also met this afternoon and took action on several bills and held two bills for
a possible meeting next week. The two bills held were HB 1330 which would create
an Insurance Mandate Review Commission to look at all health insurance mandates
and HB 1478 which proposes to allow an insurer which owns a licensed pharmacy to
mail prescription drug refills for maintenance medications to its enrollees.
The Committee passed the following bills:
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HB 539 – This was presented by Rep. Harbin and deals with
individual deferred annuities. This follows model NAIC legislation and is
purportedly good for the annuities industry as well as consumers.
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HB 1203 – Rep. Harper indicated this bill received a
favorable report from his Subcommittee. Rep. Golick explained that this is
the Dept. of Insurance's bill on allowing electronic transmission of
directives, data calls, orders, and bulletins to insureds. There is language
which requires an insured to confirm receipt of such transmission.
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HB 1499 – Rep. Maddox reported that this bill also got a
favorable report in his Subcommittee. Rep. Keen explained that the bill deals
with motor vehicle liability insurance prepayment issues. It will become
effective on January 1, 2005.
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HB 1623 – Rep. Murphy explained that the Subcommittee
reported out this bill favorably to the full Committee. Rep. Martin explained
that he also had one change to this bill which requires association and
industrial insured captive insurance companies issuing workers' compensation
insurance contracts to file certain matters relating to rates with the
Commissioner of Insurance.
Other News
The Coalition for Civil Justice
will meet on Friday morning in an effort to discuss strategy on tort reform
initiatives.
Some of the bills on the House
Rules Calendar for Tuesday, March 9, 2004 include:
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HB 1450 – The Judicial Emergency Act of 2004
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HB 1598 – Business and occupation taxes relating to certain
construction permits
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HB 1612 – Local sales tax allowing SPLOST for water and
sewer projects
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HR 1096 – Urges the funding of health education and
physical activity in schools
If you have any questions regarding this Report, please contact Stanley S.
Jones, Jr., Jeffrey C. Baxter, or Helen Sloat.
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