An insurance trade group said they expect an appeal of a Georgia trial judge's ruling last week that found the state law capping awards for pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases was unconstitutional.

The American Insurance Association said the ruling, handed down by Fulton Count Court Judge Marvin S. Arrington Sr. in Atlanta on April 28, which found the cap on non-economic damages in medical liability cases to be illegal, dealt “a potentially serious blow to Georgia's 2005 comprehensive tort reform law.”

Raymond G. Farmer, AIA's assistant vice president for the Southeast Region, said the tort reform law had brought “stability to the civil justice environment, and that has translated into stable medical liability premiums and greater access to medical care for Georgians. We hope and expect that the judge's order will be appealed.”

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