It was certainly puzzling to read in the Daily Report last week that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform has concluded that the Georgia legal environment is in free fall. The survey method described in the article certainly leaves room for error. Contrary to the implications of the survey, the Georgia legal system has substantially improved for businesses (and defendants generally) in civil litigation in the past two decades. Here are some of the reasons:

• Daubert principles regarding the admission of expert testimony (designed to preclude so-called junk science) have been adopted and codified. Cases that formally would have gone to a jury are now often dismissed.

• Punitive damages have been capped in most cases at $250,000.