ATLANTA – A sharply divided Georgia Senate passed a comprehensive tort reform bill Friday that is Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s top priority for the 2025 General Assembly session.
Senate Bill 68, which the Senate’s GOP majority passed 33-21 along party lines, is aimed at reining in huge jury awards in civil lawsuits Kemp and his legislative allies say are raising insurance premiums, forcing businesses to lay off workers or close their doors and reducing access to health care by driving physicians out of Georgia and shuttering hospitals.
“This legislation is not about protecting corporate profits. It’s not about caving in to the demands of insurance companies or denying Georgians their ability to be fully and fairly compensated when they need to go to court,” said Senate President Pro Tempore John Kennedy, R-Macon, the bill’s chief sponsor, responding to criticism of the measure leveled by Democrats and trial lawyers. “Instead, it’s about stabilizing costs and putting all Georgians, no matter where your zip code is, first.”
The wide-ranging bill contains a number of provisions, including:
- prohibiting plaintiff lawyers in a civil lawsuit from asking a jury for a specific amount of damages until closing arguments.
- requiring judges to rule on motions to dismiss a case filed by defense lawyers before the start of what tends to be an expensive discovery process.
- prohibiting plaintiff lawyers from filing motions to dismiss a case and refiling a lawsuit after the jury has been seated and opening statements have taken place. Refiling at such a late stage forces defendants to spend money unnecessarily.
- prohibits lawyers for either side from seeking double recoveries of attorney fees from the other side.
- allows defense lawyers to introduce into evidence whether a plaintiff injured in an auto accident was wearing a seat belt.
- establishes “premises liability” guidelines for when plaintiffs can sue business owners for negligence due to injuries suffered from criminal acts committed by a third party outside of the defendant’s control.
- allows plaintiffs to seek economic damages based only on the actual costs of the medical care they receive.
- requires liability in a civil suit to be determined before the jury considers damages if either the plaintiff or defendant requests such “bifurcation” of trials.
Senators unanimously passed an amendment submitted on the floor Friday with the governor’s backing that would allow deliberating juries to ask the judge whether a plaintiff has health insurance, the amount of the injured party’s medical bill, and how much of the claim the insurance company paid.
The amendment would strike a balance between the interests of business owners bombarded with skyrocketing insurance premiums and the constitutional rights of injured Georgians seeking compensation, said Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia, a plaintiff lawyer by trade and the amendment’s sponsor.
“No one wants to be crushed by baseless claims,” Hatchett said. “At the same time, I believe no one wants corporations operating unchecked.”
After Hatchett’s amendment passed, the Senate defeated a second amendment brought by Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes, D-Duluth, that would have prohibited insurance companies from raising premiums faster than the annual rate of inflation. Her amendment died by the same party-line margin.
“Nothing in this bill requires a single penny of premium reduction,” Islam Parkes said of Kennedy’s underlying legislation. “What this bill does is hand more power to the insurance industry.”
Senate Democrats also introduced alternative tort reform legislation Thursday aimed specifically at the premises liability issue. Senate Bill 223 would shield business owners from any negligence lawsuit brought simply because their business is located in a high-crime area. Business owners who take reasonable steps to ensure customers’ safety such as installing security cameras and adequate lighting would have a “rebuttable presumption” against liability.
In closing Friday’s debate, Kennedy acknowledged there are no guarantees that his bill will result in lower insurance premiums. But he said other states that have enacted similar tort reform measures have started to see lower rates.
“If we don’t pass Senate Bill 68, your insurance premiums, my insurance premiums, and rest of Georgia’s insurance premiums will go up,” he said.
Senate Bill 68 now heads to the state House of Representatives.