TL;DR
Fulton County
State and Superior Courts of Fulton County
Georgia removed the ceiling on the damages category that carries almost all the value in a senior care case when its earlier statutory cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice was held unconstitutional. There is no equivalent limit in place.
For an operator in Fulton County that reduces the insurance question to a short list. There is no statutory moderation of the top of the distribution, so limit adequacy and the structure of the excess tower are what decide whether a serious claim is survivable.
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No ceiling on noneconomic damages, which is the component a life care plan does not reach and which typically dominates a wrongful death valuation.
Scale and specialization. Metropolitan Atlanta carries the largest concentration of licensed beds in the state and the plaintiff and defense bars to match.
Rapid growth in assisted living and memory care inventory across the metropolitan area, which brings fill-up risk and labor competition into the same market.
Personal care home licensure covering a wide size range, including a substantial small-home segment where care coverage is frequently absent.
Expect the tower to be the conversation. In a venue with no ceiling, underwriters are pricing the tail, and the questions will be about what limits you carry, how the layers are assembled and whether the excess follows form over the primary.
Expect the abuse and neglect sublimit to be examined, since it is the only ceiling in the program once the statutory one is gone.
Expect questions about growth-stage operations, since the metropolitan market has absorbed a large volume of new communities.
Price the tower in layers so the marginal cost of each one is visible. Excess layers price on the probability of reaching them, so the first layer above your primary is usually a small fraction of the primary premium for the same amount of limit.
Confirm the excess is follow-form over the professional liability including the abuse coverage part, and confirm it attaches on exhaustion by payment of damages and claim expenses rather than damages alone.
Push the abuse and neglect sublimit toward the full limit. Where nothing else caps the exposure, a sublimit is a ceiling working against you.
If you operate small personal care homes, confirm in writing that the policy covers the rendering of care.
The law behind the venue
A venue decides how a case is run. The statutory route, the damages posture and the licensure framework are state law, and they are set out on the Georgia page.
Georgia senior care practiceOperators in this county ask
There is no statutory cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice in force, an earlier cap having been held unconstitutional. Since noneconomic damages carry most of the value in a senior care claim, the practical effect is that nothing limits the top of the distribution.
More than the bed count suggests. Claim value is set by the injury and the venue rather than by operator size, and excess layers are priced on the probability of being reached, so additional limit is comparatively inexpensive. Ask for the tower priced layer by layer and look at the marginal cost.
A follow-form excess adopts the wording of the underlying policy, including how it treats defense costs and abuse. An excess that does not follow form over the abuse coverage part will not respond to the claim most likely to exhaust the primary, which defeats the purpose of buying it.
Go deeper
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pre-suit procedure, a dense bed count, and storm exposure on the same balance sheet
a large retiree population, out of state families, and the same pre-suit clock
the Tampa Bay growth market, surge exposure, and a fast-filling inventory
elder abuse remedies, attorney fees, and the largest trial court in the country
Free coverage review
Send the declarations page and a specialist will tell you whether the tower and the structure fit the courthouse you actually operate in.