00:14 welcome back everybody to the auto accident
00:17 and attorney's podcast today I have the
00:19 pleasure of having Brian Craig of wood
00:22 Craig Miller and Rob hammers of the
00:24 Hammers law firm with us today these are
00:27 both prestigious Atlanta firms that have
00:30 helped co-consul a lot of our clients in
00:33 the past and will continue to do so Rob
00:36 Brian thank you so much for coming today
00:39 thank you for having us I'm excited to
00:41 talk to you today I'm so excited to hear
00:43 that the topic now that Tor reform is
00:47 all but past is to recap what tort
00:51 reform was purported to be what it will
00:56 actually be or what you pontificate that
00:58 it will be and how it's going to affect
00:60 the average Georgia Consumer because it
01:03 was sold to us as a consumer protection
01:07 legislation so I'd like to put on record
01:12 what we should be able to anticipate in
01:14 the next year two years five years I
01:16 think if it actually benefited the
01:18 consumer then um that that's a good
01:20 thing for Georgia drivers in theory but
01:23 uh obviously we got to see how this all
01:26 plays out but my best guess is that
01:29 consumers are are not going to benefit
01:31 and it's just going to make claims all
01:33 that much harder uh and have some
01:35 significant uh limitations to them
01:39 now so you mentioned it's all but pasted
01:42 and and I want to say that it's you know
01:45 March 7th right and we're about one day
01:49 after what we call Crossover at the
01:51 capital which means if you didn't have a
01:53 bill pass out of the Senate it can't go
01:55 to the house and if you didn't have a
01:56 bill pass out of the house it can't go
01:58 to the Senate um and so you're bill is
02:00 dead this bill s
02:03 sp68 um which is the Omnibus tort Reform
02:06 Bill passed out of the Senate a few
02:08 weeks ago and has been in the house so
02:10 it doesn't have to go back up now to be
02:12 made law but it does have to be voted on
02:15 it's currently in what's called a rules
02:17 committee meaning they didn't put it
02:19 into a study committee where there's
02:20 public hearings and people get to come
02:22 in and testify and tell you how they
02:24 think it's going to help or not help and
02:26 that you have an equal debate on both
02:28 sides um it was moved to rules which is
02:30 just is there anything wrong
02:32 functionally with the bill that needs to
02:34 be addressed before it goes to the
02:36 members for a vote and the speaker of
02:39 the house um speaker Burns decided that
02:42 he would put it into subcommittee in
02:44 rules so that there could be at least
02:46 some hearings where the sponsor of the
02:48 bill uh um uh John Kennedy from mon
02:52 who's an insurance defense lawyer who
02:54 who uh authored the bill he came in and
02:56 he presented and they got to Pepper him
02:58 with questions for several day uh a full
03:01 legislative day and based on his
03:03 responses the the speaker said let's go
03:06 ahead and appoint from this special
03:08 subcommittee an opportunity to hear from
03:10 the other side so they had insurance
03:12 people come in defense lawyers come in
03:14 and plainist lawyers and pl's clients
03:17 and so on the 6th well I guess the 5ifth
03:21 two days ago um there was a all day
03:24 hearing at the um at the House of
03:27 Representatives subcommittee for um this
03:30 b68 and we got to pitch our side one we
03:33 time so now where we are is have we
03:36 motivated the subcommittee to recommend
03:39 any amendments to
03:40 sp68 before it goes to the house to vote
03:43 and if we can get some amendments we can
03:46 improve the impact of this bill on the
03:49 consumers of Georgia if not and the bill
03:52 goes to the floor as is um it will be
03:55 voted on and that's our last chance and
03:58 so what we want to make sure that you're
04:01 your listeners here and understand is if
04:04 this is released and the vote happens
04:07 it's going to the governor for Signature
04:09 if it hasn't been voted on yet you still
04:11 have time to call your House of
04:12 Representatives representative at the
04:14 Georgia legislature and say don't do
04:16 this it's bad for us it's bad for
04:18 Georgians let's make them fix this bill
04:20 and vote no um and so where we are at
04:23 this current date is what they do is
04:26 called a whip which means count the
04:28 votes how many Republicans and how many
04:30 Democrats are going to vote with the
04:32 bill and against the bill and if we have
04:35 enough votes to beat the bill in the
04:37 house it won't pass and it won't become
04:39 law however if you do defeat the bill on
04:42 a whip in the house it can be brought
04:43 back for a second vote after it goes
04:45 back to committee so it doesn't mean
04:47 it's dead dead we got to get through uh
04:50 the legislative session which is called
04:52 siny die the the last day right and if
04:55 we get to SNY die nothing has been
04:57 passed Governor can't sign it so our
05:00 last Bastion of defense is beating it on
05:03 a what we call Floor fight if that
05:05 happens awesome there is no Tor for if
05:08 we lose I just got a politics lesson
05:11 yeah I was going to say Rob is as smart
05:13 as you are handsome oh God that means
05:15 we're both terrible yeah that's not a
05:16 good that's not a that's horrible that's
05:19 who wants to hear that yo but let me ask
05:20 you this Rob is do you know is there
05:22 anything specifically in the bill that
05:25 says that there will be savings passed
05:27 on to the consumer absolutely not and so
05:29 like how is is that not an issue that
05:31 was like how were they able to
05:32 circumvent that that's that's my
05:34 question money then how does that not
05:39 get more public I know that I'm I'm
05:41 asking you almost a rhetorical question
05:43 but why one insurance companies are
05:45 publicly traded companies anyone can
05:47 look up their financials and see what
05:49 the shareholder earnings are how the
05:51 stock prices are all in the green and
05:52 they continue to rise it's public
05:54 knowledge what each of these state
05:56 representatives have received from the
05:57 insurance industry in terms of dollars
06:01 why do you think what's going on how can
06:04 an entity like this get away these
06:06 lobbyists get away with convincing the
06:09 majority of Georgia Citizens that this
06:11 is actually consumer protection there's
06:13 always been like that kind of personal
06:14 injury stigma I think in this it's been
06:17 fueled historically by the insurance
06:19 lobbyists and uh you know it personal
06:23 injury is a bad thing until you need it
06:24 and there's a lot of people that are
06:26 significantly injured that are going to
06:28 be put in way worse positions
06:30 because now there's just all these
06:32 roadblocks that are going to be thrown
06:33 up that didn't exist before and and
06:35 really shouldn't exist because they're
06:37 again like Rob just said the benefit you
06:40 know consumer protection isn't even
06:42 addressed and so it's like this is just
06:45 another that you know the big bad Mighty
06:48 Insurance uh committee is able to to to
06:52 P push their weight around I would
06:54 say this is not a public interest issue
06:57 right like the word tort reform isn't
07:00 even something that your average citizen
07:03 who hasn't had something awful happen to
07:05 their family and needed to make a claim
07:07 ever experiences good point right and so
07:10 if we as trial lawyers who are trying to
07:14 build public uh opposition to this issue
07:18 are speaking into a universe in which
07:21 there's Elon Musk bought Twitter and
07:24 named it X and is ba basically live
07:27 streaming his thoughts all day and you
07:30 have Donald Trump that's you know on TV
07:33 talking about National issues that
07:35 everyone is all in a tither about get an
07:38 ordinary Georgia to think about whether
07:40 or not the price of their auto insurance
07:42 or business owners their cost of their
07:44 commercial liability insurance ordinary
07:47 people just don't care right and how did
07:49 that end up as like like the main agenda
07:52 on on our Governor's hit list I mean
07:56 that cuz I I'm with you I don't think
07:57 that that's something that I put that on
07:59 the uh priority list about as high as
08:01 the Gulf of
08:04 America right I I think to your point
08:07 that's that's the Crux of it right
08:08 because this isn't a public interest
08:10 issue it's not going to draw the needle
08:12 of a political back backlash Governor km
08:16 has one more full year in office before
08:19 his political career is effectively over
08:22 if he doesn't do something National
08:23 right he's been very popular in this
08:26 state and his decision on how to handle
08:29 Co bought him aot ofal political capital
08:32 and him backing up his state
08:33 representatives and his State appointees
08:36 during the 20120 election when Trump
08:40 lost Georgia and lost the election
08:42 bought him no love from the president
08:45 and so Kent is in a spot where he's not
08:47 going to get any love from the Trump
08:49 Administration when his career is over
08:51 and he's in a spot in which there's
08:53 nowhere else for him to do in Georgia
08:55 politics so what's he going to do is he
08:57 going to go fishing or is he going to do
08:58 something else he does have a lot of
08:60 political popularity but he needs a lot
09:02 of money and if there's a lot of money
09:04 to be had insurance is where you're
09:06 going to go and the Chamber of Commerce
09:09 which is on the national and local level
09:11 that has the interest of business
09:13 medical hospitals big business logging
09:17 Trucking uh Pharmaceuticals you name it
09:20 it's not just Insurance these people
09:22 don't want us to pop them when they
09:25 behave badly and it the best way that
09:28 people who want to speak truth to power
09:30 have still in our society is to swell
09:33 people sit in the box and say you did
09:35 wrong and you got to pay what it cost
09:38 and that's what keeps people honest it's
09:40 why we have seat belts it's why we have
09:41 airbags it's why we have crash avoidance
09:44 technology it's why we have rear
09:46 Collision controls every advance in
09:48 technology we have in safety comes from
09:50 trial lawyers and not from magnanimous
09:53 corporations and people don't know that
09:55 unless they get on the wrong end of a
09:58 negligent Act and so what we have here
10:01 is Governor km's been great to trial
10:03 lawyers for 7 and A2 years but we're
10:06 useless to them on a national stage and
10:08 so now he wants to do something and he
10:10 doesn't have the president so what's he
10:12 going to do he's going to go to who's
10:13 going to pay for his campaign and he's
10:16 looking at Senator oof and he's looking
10:18 at the United States Senate and he says
10:19 how am I going to get there he's going
10:21 to get there through the money he can
10:23 raise and they said that money is
10:25 unlimited if you stop people in Georgia
10:27 from kicking our ass in court and so so
10:29 he did it and that's where we're at that
10:32 is such an intelligent take and it makes
10:34 so much sense but what I'm wondering is
10:36 is it a moment in time where this
10:38 industry was ripe for it or is it so to
10:41 speak loow hanging fruit because of who
10:46 who trial lawyers are do we shoot
10:48 ourselves in the foot with attorney
10:51 advertising for example which I always
10:53 considered access to Justice what you
10:56 were talking about that only trial
10:57 lawyers can hold these corporations
11:00 accountable it's the only portion of law
11:04 where every citizen has access to
11:06 Justice they don't have to write a
11:09 retainer check to get a brilliant mind
11:13 like either of you to go and step into
11:17 Rob T I'm I'm really good at working
11:21 really hard and making no money so so to
11:25 to answer the question is if you look at
11:27 this bill it doesn't Target
11:30 the um race to the bottom jingle folks
11:34 right the the people who are trying to
11:37 to Advantage themselves on the very
11:39 highly condensed population of metro
11:42 Atlanta where there's more auto
11:44 accidents because of the the nature of
11:46 the of the population and the
11:48 configuration of our rways this bill
11:51 doesn't Target those cases it's
11:54 specifically targeted at Big verdicts
11:58 mhm their tires of us kicking their ass
12:01 and the crybaby John Kennedy senator
12:04 from mon who did this bill can't beat us
12:07 in court so he's asking for a
12:08 legislative get out of jail free card
12:11 but what's going to be sad for him is
12:13 that even when he gets these rules if he
12:15 gets them through we're still going to
12:17 kick his ass because our causes are
12:19 right and our arguments are better and
12:21 he can cry all he wants we're going to
12:23 win the cases again and he'll be back
12:25 looking for tort reform in 5 years cuz
12:27 he just isn't very good at his job I I
12:29 don't know about you guys but I don't
12:30 know many big verdicts that weren't
12:32 Justified I mean big verdicts are a
12:35 product of a significant uh you injury
12:39 or I mean they're Justified most likely
12:41 if the insurance company is uh caught
12:43 flat footed on that it's because they
12:45 didn't do right in the first place so
12:47 everybody gives the insurance company an
12:48 opportunity to do the right thing it's
12:50 just the insurance company you know they
12:52 they say that they're good neighbors and
12:54 uh you know they're in good hands but
12:56 that that's just not the reality so uh
12:59 but I I you know I've tried a bunch of
13:01 cases Rob I know you've tried a bunch of
13:02 cases have you ever gotten a big verdict
13:04 from an insignificant case no yeah it
13:07 doesn't happen that's the wildest thing
13:09 is the the premise of the entire setup
13:11 when they're when they're bringing out
13:12 these outlier nuclear verdict cases they
13:16 they don't actually review the facts or
13:19 present the facts as as how it was I
13:21 remember one that I actually came up on
13:23 the text thread uh I'm going to butcher
13:25 the fact pattern but it was uh presented
13:28 to uh the committee as if the insurance
13:32 company had offered $25 million and
13:33 plaintiff said no and they got 25
13:35 million where it was actually inverse
13:38 right the the plaintiffs were ready to
13:40 settle a two and a half an insurance
13:43 company told them to go kick rocks and
13:45 they went to to court and they got they
13:48 got hit and I think that that if you
13:50 take that threat of that nuclear verdict
13:53 away it it takes away any leverage
13:56 whatsoever to negotiate insurance
13:58 companies don't want to pay to begin
13:59 with yeah I mean using that example
14:01 specifically it's like they still didn't
14:03 do the right thing it took a jury to say
14:04 what it was right they had an
14:06 opportunity to sell far less than $25
14:08 million there wouldn't have been a
14:09 nuclear ver verdict there would have
14:11 been probably a fair settlement but the
14:13 jury thought it was worth way more than
14:16 even the plff lawyers did the way I'm
14:18 thinking about this right now Rob do you
14:20 think it's correct like if I what I just
14:22 said that tort reform is going to take
14:25 the ability of attorney plaintiffs trial
14:27 lawyers to not get those nuclear
14:29 verdicts is that something that's going
14:31 to happen so just for context
14:35 H Georgia is a a dixiecrat state we were
14:39 democrats for a hundred years mostly
14:43 because Abraham Lincoln was a republican
14:45 right and so even though the politics
14:47 might have been conservative our
14:49 politicians were
14:51 Democrats and um that changed around
14:55 2000 right and for the first time in
14:58 over 100 years the House of
14:60 Representatives and the governor and the
15:02 and the Senate were Republicans in 2005
15:06 and they were going to get even and they
15:09 passed s sp3 which was the first time we
15:11 had massive sweeping T Tor reform in
15:13 Georgia and that was the offer of
15:15 settlement statute it was caps on
15:17 Damages it was a porman of fall the were
15:21 these vehicles that were supposed to uh
15:25 constrain verdicts and to improve the
15:28 lives and fair of the judicial system
15:30 all these little buzzwords they use to
15:32 say we're going to save insurance
15:34 companies money and we're not going to
15:35 get beat in court anymore for our
15:37 wrongdoing it all passed and the Caps
15:40 was devastating but they were
15:42 unconstitutional so those got kicked and
15:45 then since then the offer of settlement
15:47 statute and the apportionment has been
15:49 more of a boon for plainist lawyers who
15:52 knew how to use them than the defense
15:54 bar who asked for them that's probably
15:57 going to be the exact same outcome here
15:59 they've asked for a whole bunch of stuff
16:01 that they think will help them win cases
16:03 but what they can't change is you did
16:06 wrong we proved it and then you lied
16:09 about it and you tried to hide the
16:11 evidence to PR prevent us from getting a
16:13 fair result for our client then the jury
16:15 hears it and what's the jury going to do
16:17 they're going to pop you punish yeah for
16:20 sure they're going to pop you every time
16:21 that ain't going to change and then and
16:23 that's what they hate but they'll keep
16:25 on trying to find ways to to stack the
16:28 deck and and the worst part of the stack
16:30 in the deck from this bill is they've
16:34 asked for mandatory bation on the motion
16:37 of any party which in short simple terms
16:40 is if you file a lawsuit you got to
16:44 prove somebody's at fault and you got
16:46 hurt as a result right what they want to
16:49 do is first you got to prove they're
16:50 fault and then you got to prove that you
16:52 were hurt and then if they did something
16:54 wrong and you want pive damages you got
16:56 to have a third phase of trial now
16:58 already we have
16:59 in our system if that's punitive damages
17:02 you got to approve your whole case first
17:05 and then if you win the jury decides
17:06 whether or not they believe the conduct
17:08 was egregious enough to go to the
17:09 punitive phase so so what they want to
17:11 do is add one more layer and what's
17:14 crazy about that is 90% of the cases
17:17 that get filed are simple negligence
17:20 automobile accidents where the defendant
17:22 was cited with the ticket and there's no
17:24 dispute as to who's at fault and it
17:27 means a jury trial on a car wreck can
17:29 take a day to two days right and you can
17:32 dispense Justice and a court can manage
17:34 their docket now all you got to say is
17:37 you got to prove that I I was at fault
17:40 and now a simple carreck case will take
17:42 a judge a whole week to try on something
17:45 that should take two days and it's a
17:47 waste of everybody's time and the only
17:48 reason they want that is because on big
17:51 cases they want to keep it all about the
17:54 conduct before you hear any evidence
17:56 about how they're paralyzed or how
17:59 they're dead or anything that's really
18:01 really egregious in the D so you know uh
18:04 in my cases uh the auto ones uh often
18:08 times they stipulate to liability you
18:10 think that that still will happen or you
18:11 think that that's something that's going
18:12 the way of the Buffalo well I think
18:14 what's going to happen is the judg is
18:15 going to be really really really C with
18:18 folks who play this system where if you
18:20 got a if you got a rear end collision
18:22 and you got sighted for a ticket and you
18:24 ask for bifurcation you don't have a
18:26 judge that's going to Grant anything you
18:28 want so I think that I mean if I'm on a
18:30 jury forget what the I mean not forget
18:32 what the judge does but if I'm on the
18:33 jury and I gotta like hear that the
18:36 plaintive is having to prove something
18:38 in which the defendant was cited and
18:40 it's clear-cut rear end collision and
18:42 they're fighting me on that by the time
18:44 we get to the the next phase I'm I'm
18:46 killing them I think that if if you're
18:49 practical on the defense side I think
18:50 nothing changes right um but what we've
18:53 asked for as a simple fix this is how
18:55 reasonable we're being down at the
18:56 legislature trying to get this bill into
18:58 somewhere where it's not un un
19:00 unreasonable and that is let the judge
19:03 decide upon motion of either party the
19:06 judge May bifurcate the trial not shall
19:10 just may and those words are important
19:12 in the statute if the judge has the
19:14 discretion and it's a product liability
19:17 law and you're saying that the uh
19:20 airbags didn't deploy in your car or the
19:23 roof crushed in your car let's determine
19:26 whether or not Ford or GM should have
19:29 known that that problem with the vehicle
19:31 was a problem that they did something
19:33 about before this plff got injured
19:36 before we talk about their injuries okay
19:38 the judge might say yes to that right um
19:41 but when you put shall do it it means
19:44 unscrupulous or um or opportunistic
19:48 defense lawyers will use this
19:50 opportunity to prolong trials stretch
19:53 out cases and prevent trial dates so
19:55 that they can make trials last longer
19:58 and it harder for plaintiffs to get just
20:00 makes just make it unduly burdensome M
20:03 let's pretend that that happens that
20:04 GTLA can't get the word shall to May
20:08 what do you think the Practical effect
20:10 on cost of litigation would be I think
20:12 for those big cases I mean you know the
20:14 the complex cases it goes up
20:16 exponentially but the reality is also I
20:19 mean they're fighting that phase anyway
20:22 I mean that so I don't know you know not
20:25 to dance around the question but if uh
20:27 Florida was talking about like how uh
20:30 they got hit with the all this tort
20:31 reform stuff and how devastating it was
20:33 going to be and I don't you know I don't
20:36 practice law in Florida but I haven't
20:38 seen any personal injury attorneys
20:39 running out of the state and I think
20:42 that it's just to me it's a it's going
20:44 to have to be a wait and see thing
20:45 because the cases don't change what we
20:47 have to do changes but you know I think
20:50 that the example you gave about like the
20:52 the offer of settlement statutes and the
20:54 I mean we didn't really know how that
20:56 was going to affect the cases until we
20:59 saw how it affected the cases and I
21:01 think that that's kind of where we're at
21:03 um I can't really see any defense
21:05 attorney changing a strategy on a on a
21:09 clear-cut liability case and and to
21:11 Brian's Point look I mean if you're
21:13 doing motor vehicle accident cases right
21:17 they ain't paying those lawyers that's
21:19 defending these things the kind of money
21:21 it takes to work up a really big trial
21:24 so they may not even get permission they
21:25 might be like you you can have whatever
21:27 strategy you want but you get three
21:30 grand to do it go go go do you you know
21:33 right and that'll curtail the behavior
21:35 so to your point and I think I actually
21:37 had a conversation with a lawyer down in
21:39 Florida about Tor reform and he said
21:41 that exact same thing he goes look it's
21:42 been two years everyone was all
21:45 histrionic about it and ring their hands
21:47 and Nash their teeth and nothing's
21:49 really materially changed from the
21:51 actual recoveries that we're getting and
21:55 the uh the justice that we're able to
21:58 obtain for our CL cents so you know we
22:00 we take that same um philosophy here
22:04 because we're not going to stop
22:05 representing injured people but what I
22:07 will say is we don't need it it does no
22:10 good it's just more uh stacking the de
22:15 BS yeah that's it that's it it's BS and
22:17 and again I you know hope that nobody
22:21 from the insurers company come get and
22:23 get me but but if it was if there was if
22:26 it was for the intended purpose of
22:28 consumer prote ction lowering your rates
22:31 that would be mentioned in the bill
22:33 somewhere we were so uh nabila Islam is
22:38 a senator from Gwynette and she actually
22:40 put an amendment to SP sp68 on the floor
22:43 before it was voted on to go to the to
22:45 the house that said we just need the
22:48 insurance companies in the statute to be
22:51 capped they can only float rates to a um
22:55 inflation based um uh uh rate increase
22:59 and that amendment was voted out sh Kel
23:04 Su yeah and the vote was 33 to 20 uh 4
23:09 26 I mean so they barely won and it was
23:11 partisan that's like the most that's
23:13 like the most common sense thing like
23:16 let's let's ensure that the benefit the
23:18 intended benefit is actually going to
23:20 reach the intended tar like like the
23:23 beneficiary yeah the beneficiary and if
23:25 you're watching the news you'll see that
23:27 the the new speaker of the house in
23:29 Florida has called to task because it's
23:32 become apparent that the insurance
23:35 companies were using their uh
23:38 manipulations of their profits and loss
23:40 statements to hide revenues and uh
23:44 information on claims to sell this big
23:47 verdicts are impacting rates and then
23:50 after the fact they filtered that money
23:52 through they've done great and that
23:55 nothing's materially changed and rates
23:57 aren't really changing and so now the
23:60 house is going back and saying let's
24:02 re-evaluate whether or not this tort
24:04 Reform Bill did what it was going to do
24:06 and should we make some fixes that fix
24:07 holes I've got my my law school roommate
24:11 and best bud I went to Florida State
24:15 he's down that's okay hey you know I
24:17 went to George's an underground let's
24:18 all be nice here um but I he he he's
24:22 down in South Florida and he does
24:23 personal injury protection so if you're
24:25 a chiropractor or a radiologist or
24:27 whatever um and there's an automobile
24:30 accident $10,000 off the top is no fault
24:33 to pay doctors for care right but if the
24:37 if the facility submits the bill to the
24:39 insurance company the the auto insurance
24:42 company to pay those bills and they
24:45 discount the bill based on the CPT code
24:47 and they do so outside of the parameters
24:50 of their rules you can sue them for
24:53 attorney's fees for not paying the full
24:54 Bill wait this is in Florida yeah it's
24:56 called pip yeah yeah I know pip yeah and
24:59 so he's been doing pip litigation for is
25:01 it under the guys of uh like a
25:03 non-medical professional making like
25:04 medical decisions is that what it is no
25:06 it's just simply I'm I'm a radiologist
25:09 and I charge $1,500 for an MRI I submit
25:13 my bill for reimbursement to Geico and
25:16 they say this wasn't medically
25:18 authorized so we're only going to pay
25:19 you $300 on it so the that that
25:22 $1,200 uh Delta is at play they can hire
25:26 a third party attorney to sue guy for
25:29 not paying their bill the radiologist
25:30 company right okay right so the so the
25:33 client of these lawyers the client of
25:35 these lawyers is the facility seeking to
25:38 be paid from the auto pip insurance but
25:41 what what's what's the cause of action
25:42 there why I breach a contract I see okay
25:46 under the personal injury protection
25:47 statute okay the Radiologists have
25:50 standing to bring suit against Geo they
25:53 have standing under the PIP statute
25:54 because they're supposed to be paid from
25:56 the PIP policy and you breach the
25:58 contract by not paying the full
25:59 reimbursement rate okay so that's a
26:01 whole that's a whole cottage industry
26:03 you want to go 50/50 going to Florida
26:05 well they well the the the Tor
26:08 reform the Tor Reform Bill erased it
26:10 it's gone they got they got rid of it
26:12 they got they got great Pi uh laws there
26:15 okay yeah so they so they got rid of pip
26:17 in this this Florida statute and looking
26:21 at it two years later the Florida
26:23 legislator is like we still have this
26:24 huge problem in processing claims and
26:27 paying but you've pulled this mechanism
26:29 for rep uh accountability out let's
26:32 re-evaluate it and let's reinstate it
26:34 and so now it's back up for debate and
26:36 and that's a Lobby thing too because all
26:37 the piters are like we want our jobs
26:39 back but like that's politics right and
26:42 that's what's going on here is down in
26:45 Florida they promised they were going to
26:46 lower premiums and reduce verdicts they
26:49 haven't reduced verdicts and they
26:50 haven't lowered premiums and Florida
26:52 legislators are like whoa whoa whoa did
26:54 we get what we bargain for um and that's
26:57 what we think could happen happen here
26:59 in Georgia you know what I don't want to
27:00 do what's that debate this
27:03 guy he's really smart he's really good
27:06 he was really good I just got
27:09 whiskey Brian Rob love you guys thank
27:12 you so much it was enlightening and I
27:15 know my mom's gonna get a lot out of
27:16 this episode and my wife nobody's
27:19 watching on my side oh actually I do
27:21 have one thing actually I do you want to
27:23 say uh so my girlfriend uh comes from a
27:26 very conservative family and when I when
27:29 I met her her opinion of personal injury
27:31 was probably that of many now she works
27:35 as my office manager and she sees the
27:38 good that we do and it has been really
27:40 cool to see like this opinion kind of go
27:43 from like it's done a 180 but she was
27:46 she was definitely one of the like that
27:49 I'm not saying she was Insurance she's a
27:50 licensed insurance agent but she was
27:52 like a program to think yeah this is bad
27:56 and I think that that's what the
27:57 insurance company's done
27:59 uh is they've programmed a lot of people
28:01 to say this is a disingenuous business
28:03 and these are disingenuous injuries and
28:06 she has seen that there hey maybe there
28:09 are some but there are a lot of people
28:11 that are I mean their lives are upended
28:13 from this yeah and and that's what we're
28:15 trying to do is we're trying to just you
28:17 know get them the justice that they
28:19 deserve because you can't roll back the
28:21 hands of time but you can try to get
28:23 them back to where they were yeah I mean
28:25 I think that's right Brian is that there
28:28 is it's not a perfect system there's no
28:30 way to
28:32 undo something awful right but we're
28:36 civil society and that's why it's a
28:38 civil justice system and the only remedy
28:41 that we have is money and that's why we
28:43 pay for insurance there's no other
28:45 reason for them to exist in order for
28:47 Commerce to happen in a society where
28:50 stuff can go wrong is for us to buy
28:52 insurance the whole point of insurance
28:54 is to pull risk and to reduce the cost
28:57 of doing business and being in a
29:00 condensed populated civilized society
29:03 and the fact that they actually take our
29:05 money and they hate us for asking them
29:07 to give some of it back it's
29:10 reprehensible but yet their job is to
29:13 increase profits and so they
29:16 can't reconcile why they exist with what
29:21 they have and that is their problem but
29:25 thankfully we're here to hold them
29:28 accountable
29:29 I love that yeah that was good that was
29:30 really good I I Echo what he just said I
29:32 didn't want to say thank you for having
29:34 me but uh yeah you guys are uh great
29:37 lawyers and great friends so this has
29:39 been a treat oh amazing yeah I'm just so
29:41 glad that you invited me and I I'm I'm
29:43 just hopeful it doesn't pass I wasn't
29:44 invited but I'm happy to be
29:47 here love you guys all right guys take
29:50 care