Liz Phrampus, John Amabile, and David Pardue were quoted in Law360’s midyear review of the most significant legislation in Georgia.
John Amabile explained that new rules limiting when a company CEO or high-ranking officer can be deposed in litigation were “a win for the business community.” Lawmakers passed those rules after a Georgia Supreme Court decision involving Robert Buchanan and other plaintiffs trying to depose the CEO of General Motors.
“The Supreme Court kind of invited them to do something in the Buchanan case, and I think that the way they came down with it is consistent with what the Supreme Court said they could do,” John said. “It basically says you can get a protective order if you can show that the officer lacks personal knowledge of a piece of relevant information.”
In addition, Liz Phrampus provided context on Georgia passing an expansion of workers’ compensation benefits.
“The maximum for temporary total disability and temporary partial disability has increased quite a bit in the last couple of years,” Liz said. “When it comes to employees that are higher earners that are injured on the job July 1 or after, the cost of the claim will be higher for those entitled to weekly compensation benefits, from an employer's perspective.”
“In recent years the trend in Georgia, from what I've seen,” Liz summarized, “has actually been more towards an employee-friendly system versus an employer-friendly system.”
The state legislature also passed bills allowing more disputes to go before a six-person jury, regulating and taxing electricity as motor fuel, and expanding the window that employers need to provide workers to vote. David Pardue offered perspective on those changes, including calling the six-person jury change “a no-brainer.”
“It makes sense,” David said. “It's almost like an inflation adjustment. It's a little bit of an oddity that Georgia requires 12-person juries as much as it does, so I think it's a needed update of the law."
Subscribers can read the full article here: Georgia's Biggest New Legislation For 2023: Midyear Report
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