ATLANTA – Legislation backed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp aimed at reining in huge jury awards supporters say cripple Georgia businesses has cleared a state Senate committee following a five-hour hearing.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 8-3 along party lines Monday night to advance the sweeping tort reform measure to the full Senate for consideration.
Among other things, Senate 68 would shield property owners from liability claims stemming from criminal acts committed by third parties outside of the owner’s control, allow lawyers for defendants in suits stemming from car accidents to introduce evidence showing the injured party was not wearing a seatbelt, and require plaintiffs in liability cases to show the jury their actual medical costs when the jury is deliberating on compensation.
The committee vote came after representatives of businesses including trucking companies, supermarkets, pest control companies, and hospitals complained that a civil justice system skewed against defendants is driving up insurance premiums, making it increasingly difficult for businesses to keep their doors open.
“The future of the grocery industry is at stake if something doesn’t change,” John Triplett, a grocer from Screven County, told the committee.
“We very much support plaintiffs’ access to the court system,” added Anna Adams, executive vice president for external affairs at the Georgia Hospital Association. “We just want this process to be fair.”
Opponents have argued that tort reform will let insurance companies further enrich themselves without reducing skyrocketing insurance premiums driven by climate change and the greed of insurers.
But Jimbo Floyd of Gainesville, president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Georgia, said insurance companies are losing money because of excessive jury verdicts. For example, insurance companies in Georgia paid out $1.04 in 2023 for every $1 they collected, piling up $1.28 billion in losses, he said.
“The Georgia insurance marketplace is in crisis,” Floyd said. “If we don’t act to stabilize rates, many of these business owners will be forced to close their businesses.”
After supporters spoke in favor of the bill, members of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association poked holes in each of the comprehensive measure’s provisions.
Alan Hamilton, a lawyer who represents plaintiffs in truck accident cases, said a provision prohibiting plaintiff lawyers from bringing up specific amounts or ranges of damages they are seeking until closing arguments favors high-salary plaintiffs over stay-at-home moms, children, elderly retirees, and wage earners.
“This unfairly, unequally treats the wage earner different from the executive,” he said. “It raises serious equal-protection constitutional and practical concerns.”
Personal injury lawyer Drew Ashby said allowing defense lawyers to introduce evidence showing a plaintiff in an auto accident was not wearing a seat belt has an “unbelievably prejudicial effect” on juries.
“It shifts the focus from the person who caused the crash to the victim of the crash,” he said.
Ashby also argued that it’s hard to prove a plaintiff was wearing a seat belt at the time of a crash because either the victim, first responder, or police officer typically remove the seat belt immediately after an accident.
Kemp has made tort reform a top priority for this year’s General Assembly session.