New poll: Alabama Republican voters back lawsuit reform 63% to 20% – trial lawyers call it ‘civil justice restrictions’

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October 23, 2026

A new survey of likely Republican primary voters by 1892 Polling finds 63% support lawsuit reform and 20% oppose it, a 43-point margin. When respondents heard arguments from both sides, support climbed to 75% against 12% opposed.

Lawsuit reform, often called tort reform, covers changes to state law on who can sue, where a case can be filed and how much a jury can award.

Factions of Alabama’s business community has sought a new round of reforms for years, arguing that large verdicts and rising liability insurance costs end up on the bills Alabama families and employers pay. The state’s trial lawyers have fought those efforts at every turn, and the two sides are set to potentially square off again when the Legislature convenes for the 2027 session.

The support cuts across the party, the poll reports.

Trump Republicans back reform 70% to 18%. Very conservative voters back it 67% to 16%. Traditional Republicans back it 61% to 22%, and independents who vote in the GOP primary back it 58% to 29%. Every media market in the state shows majority support, led by Montgomery/Mobile at 71% and Huntsville at 68%.

The poll tested 10 specific reforms. All 10 drew majority support and six cleared 75%. Requiring truth in lawsuit advertising led the field at 85%.

Capping lawyer fees followed at 83%, requiring disclosure of hedge funds and foreign investors who secretly finance lawsuits at 82%, allowing seat belt evidence in court at 81%, requiring expert certification at 79% and requiring medical expenses to reflect amounts actually paid rather than sticker prices at 76%.

The weakest performer, a cap on pain and suffering damages, still won 57% to 33%.

Three of the top reforms kept majority support even among voters who said they oppose lawsuit reform in general. Truth in lawsuit ads and funding disclosure each ran 66 points net positive with that group, and limiting lawyer fees ran 54 points positive.

Harrison Proctor is the executive director of Alabamians for Legal Reform, an advocacy group leading the push for changes to Alabama’s civil justice system. Proctor joined the newly-formed group in January after serving as counsel for government affairs at Protective Life.

“Lawsuit abuse is a hidden line item on every Alabamian’s household budget,” Proctor said in a statement to Yellowhammer News.

“These numbers show Alabamians are tired of paying for a system that is motivated by profit over justice. Our neighbors in Florida and Georgia have already acted to make their legal systems fairer. Our leaders in Montgomery cannot control interest rates or the price of gas, but they can control whether Alabama’s civil justice system is fair and predictable for Alabama families and small businesses.”

The poll’s central finding is that Alabama Republicans connect lawsuit reform to the cost of living, the issue driving the 2026 cycle nationally.

By 48% to 29%, respondents sided with the argument that excessive lawsuits drive up insurance, grocery and medical costs for every Alabama family over the competing argument that blames insurance companies. Among self-identified Republicans, the gap was 30 points.

67% said cutting what the poll calls the hidden “lawsuit tax” on Alabama families made them more likely to support reform.

The rural hospital message tied for the most effective argument tested. 76% said helping rural hospitals maintain services and recruit doctors through more affordable liability insurance made them more likely to support reform. By 51% to 28%, voters agreed that doctors and rural hospitals are closing or leaving Alabama because they cannot afford liability coverage.

The memo cites Alabama Department of Insurance data showing liability claims costs in the state rose 59% from 2020 to 2024, against a 23% rise in consumer prices over the same period. Nationally, the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform puts tort costs at $4,207 per household, growing 7.1% a year against 3.4% inflation.

Respondents rated trial lawyers unfavorably by 26% to 38%, and the image stayed negative in every subgroup. Among Trump Republicans, trial lawyers were 18 points underwater.

Alabama has not passed major lawsuit reform since 1999, when the Legislature capped punitive damages and restricted venue shopping after a decade in which the state’s outsized jury verdicts earned it the label “tort hell.”

Business groups led by the Business Council of Alabama, the Alabama Farmers Federation and the Alabama Trucking Association have pushed for a second round for years. The 2027 session, with a new governor and legislature fresh off the November elections, is the next opening.

1892 surveyed 625 likely Republican primary voters in August using live telephone calls and text-to-web. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.92%. The firm has polled for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Republican Governors Association and the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Lucy Tufts is the president of the Alabama Association for Justice, the statewide organization of plaintiff attorneys that has opposed every major lawsuit reform push in Alabama for decades. A partner at Cunningham Bounds in Mobile, she was elected as president in June.

Tufts attacked the poll and the case behind it.

“The small sample size and biased language of this poll are clearly designed to advance a particular agenda and therefore the result does not accurately reflect the understanding of over 3.9 million voting-age Alabamians – that the real reason insurance costs have risen is to fund the billion-dollar record profits of out-of-state insurance conglomerates,” Tufts said in a statement to Yellowhammer News.

“Industry-recognized data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) confirms that insurance companies have made more profit from Alabamians and that Alabamians have received less for their premium dollars than other policyholders in the south or nationally.”

Tufts rejected the term “lawsuit reform” outright.

“What these insurance companies call ‘lawsuit reform’ is more accurately described as ‘civil justice restrictions’ – legislation that limits the rights of injured Alabamians to obtain full compensation and immunizes large corporations from accountability for wrongdoing,” she said.

“There is no evidence that limiting the rights of an Alabama citizen to recover damages from a negligent corporation will reduce the price of a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, or a prescription medication. However, there is abundant evidence that meritorious lawsuits help injured Alabamians afford those very same things when insurance companies deny their claims and try to stick them with the bill. Clearly, we have an insurance problem, not a civil justice problem.”

The poll’s bottom line, in 1892’s words, is that reform’s cost-of-living case “aligns with voters’ top national concern and gives legislators a strong answer to the trial bar’s accountability argument.”

The full poll memo is available here.

Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.