USA – GEORGIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Michael Weiss and Jamie Carroll, Carroll & Weiss
for treating opioid patients. The Georgia legislature passed an act that released any past, present, and future claims from any Georgia governmental agency, and the Supreme Court held the release could apply to claims already pending. The decision was limited to the opioid settlement, but it provides a roadmap for the state to resolve, on its own, any future claims by governmental entities, which could impact mass litigation related to numerous products. Billion-Dollar Verdicts Although they had little direct effect on the rules gov - erning product liability litigation in Georgia, a discus - sion of recent trends would be incomplete without including three recent cases that led to the three largest trial verdicts in state history – at least before the matters were resolved by settlement. The largest was a USD2.1 billion verdict in 2025 against Bayer in favour of a Georgia homeowner who alleged the use of Roundup weedkiller caused his cancer. The award included USD65 million in compensatory damages and USD2 billion in punitive damages. The home - owner later settled with Bayer, which had purchased
Roundup manufacturer Monsanto in 2018. (The U.S. Supreme Court is deciding whether U.S. Environmen - tal Protection Agency regulations barred some claims in a similar Missouri case.) The other two verdicts arose from crashes involving Ford trucks that led to massive initial jury verdicts. In both cases the plaintiffs alleged that the roofs of F-250 Super Duty trucks were not strong enough to withstand rollovers, crushing the occupants inside. The first case led to a USD1.7 bil - lion verdict. The second, which involved a crash that occurred just a few days after the first verdict, resulted in a USD2.5 billion jury award in 2025. The Court of Appeals threw out the USD1.7 billion verdict in 2024 on numerous evidentiary grounds, remanding the case for a new trial. (One of the issues was whether Ford should have been allowed to offer evidence of seat - belt use, which was addressed in the new legislation.) Ford eventually settled both claims for an undisclosed amount, but proponents of the 2025 legislation used the three verdicts to argue that new laws were needed.
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