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In the first ruling of its kind, a state court judge has declared unconstitutional a portion of Georgia's newly enacted tort reform law. DeKalb State Court Judge J. Antonio DelCampo ruled on Monday that the law would "impermissibly narrow" the venues available to plaintiffs. The new law allows a nonresident defendant in medical-malpractice cases to transfer the venue to the county of that defendant's residence, if that's where the claim occurred. Republican Sen. Preston W. Smith, the bill's sponsor, said that too many plaintiffs abused the previous law and "boot-strapped" co-defendants onto cases in the hopes of securing a friendly venue. Previously, the law allowed the plaintiff to choose the venue if there were several co-defendants. In his six-page ruling, DelCampo documented what he called a "well-established principle" embedded in Georgia law: A statute can't vary constitutional venue provisions. Absent a constitutional amendment, he wrote, any statutory venue provisions must yield to the state constitution. This is the first known challenge in what could soon be a "full-frontal attack" on some of the bill's provisions, said Thomas A. Eaton, a University of Georgia law professor. Eaton, who has written extensively on constitutional torts, said he and his colleagues expect a number of challenges to be leveled against the bill. "I'm not surprised that courts are having trouble applying some of the provisions as written," he said. "From a drafting standpoint, there are some inexplicable missteps. And it's going to take a while to sort out."
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