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:
• prohibitingplaintiff lawyers in a civil lawsuit from asking a jury for a specific amount of damages until closing arguments.
• requiringjudgestorule on motions to dismiss a case filed by defense lawyers before the start of what tends to be an expensive discovery process.
• prohibitingplaintiff 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.
• prohibitslawyersfor either side from seeking double recoveries of attorney fees from the other side.
• allowsdefenselawyers 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.
• allowsplaintiffstoseek economic damages based only on the actual costs of the medical care they receive.
• requiresliabilityina civil suit to be determined before the jury considers damages if either the plaintiff or defendant requests such “bifurcation” of trials.
