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Lawyers’ group presents data analysis saying litigation not primary driver of premiums; insurers booked record profits in 2023–24
Summary
The Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (GTLA) and outside experts presented data to the study committee indicating claim counts and payouts have not risen on a per-capita, inflation-adjusted basis while insurers’ underwriting and overall profits grew sharply in 2023–24.
Jason Branch, an attorney and immediate past president of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, briefed the committee on data his group commissioned and analyzed in response to the state’s 2023 data call about tort reform and insurance premiums.
Branch said GTLA retained forensic insurance expert David Stegall and Northwestern’s Professor Bernard Black to analyze NAIC and other data. Their findings, presented to the committee, included: when adjusted for population and inflation the number of liability claims is stable and total payouts have declined since a high in the middle of the last decade; Georgia’s private-passenger-auto payouts and claim counts do not by themselves explain premium levels; and average underwriting profitability for insurers in Georgia is comparatively favorable while average premiums remain high.
Why it matters: GTLA’s analysis challenges a simple causal narrative that an increase in litigation is the principal driver of rising premiums. The group told the committee that premiums did not track with payouts after adjusting for inflation and population and that insurers posted record profits in 2023 and again in 2024.
Branch cited public industry data showing the property-and-casualty sector recorded extraordinary net income in 2024 (industry reporting cited $169 billion nationally), and argued the committee should examine insurer profitability, market concentration and claim-payment patterns rather than focus on litigation alone.
Ending: Committee members welcomed the data and the analysts’ reports and asked the group to provide source files and methodology for the committee’s review.
