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               Plaintiff Jessica Powell alleged that she experienced a medical overdose and subsequent amputation of both her legs (above the knee) following an emergency hospital admission back in 2013 at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, Georgia.  She alleged that the overdose was finally realized when fer feet began to turn blue secondary to impaired blood flow (a reportedly known complication of high dose vasopressors like the one she was prescribed) and three separate physicians negligence caused her injuries.  The jury agreed.  While the facts of the case (Superior Court Civil Action No. SUCV2015000404) may be of interest to some, it was a fairly standard medical malpractice case most noteworthy for the jury’s $70 million verdict.  Per the Plaintiff’s team, speaking to the Daily Report, the biggest issue seemed to be that, under intense cross-examination, the defendant physicians and their expert witnesses varied from their prior testimony, killing their credibility with the jury (a fatal but very common failing that is often impossible to predict or prevent – witness credibility can be a major factor in jurors’ deliberations).

            From a legal perspective, though, what is interesting is that the Plaintiff’s attorneys obtained this $70 million verdict while at least some procedural portions of Governor Kemp’s recent tort reform package were already in effect.  One of the Plaintiff’s attorneys told the Daily Report that, "SB 68 [the first of two tort reform acts] did not affect the amount I asked for, but it did affect how we asked for the damages."  SB 68 was specifically designed to curtail runaway verdicts by limiting “anchoring” tactics, precluding plaintiffs from suggesting early on to a jury what it should award in non-monetary damages (for pain and suffering, etc.).  Plaintiff’s counsel explained to the Daily Report that, “Under SB68, we were required to present the requested amount in the first closing and could not deviate from that amount in the second closing…  In terms of justifying the amount requested, SB68 had no impact on that because I have never used gimmicks or strained analogies in requesting a damages number."  Reportedly, it took the jury only 32 minutes to deliberate.  It is worth noting that, according to the defense attorneys, the case was resolved in full (settled) before the verdict was returned.  They disagreed with the outcome, and believe the physician-defendants offered the Plaintiff life-saving treatment, and the amputations were an unfortunate but necessary byproduct of that treatment.  See the Daily Report’s coverage here¹ (subscription required).

            Our firm has anticipated that Governor Kemp’s tort reform package, while well-intentioned, will not curtail all runaway verdicts in Georgia.  Only a minor portion of runaway verdicts are directly attributable to “anchoring” and similar tactics.  That said, much of this case transpired before tort reform went into effect, and it is not yet clear from the press coverage how many of the tort reform package’s new procedural changes were implicated by this case.  To that end, Governor Kemp’s tort reform package, while certainly needed, may be just scratching the surface on solving Georgia’s ongoing problem with astronomical jury verdicts.

¹https://www.law.com/dailyreportonline/2025/05/01/70m-dougherty-county-jury-verdict-despite-tort-reform/?kw=70M%20Dougherty%20County%20Jury%20Verdict%20Despite%20%27Tort%20Reform%27).