The bill sponsored by Macon Republican and Senate President Pro Tem John F. Kennedy, includes a variety of measures that proponents say are aimed at ensuring more balance between plaintiffs and defendants during personal injury trials. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
A bill that would bring sweeping changes to Georgia’s legal system cleared the Senate Friday after a last-minute compromise over a key provision dictating how juries award medical damages was added to the legislation.
The measure, which is a top priority of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, passed after a contentious debate with a 33-21 vote, clearing a key legislative hurdle. The bill passed mostly along party lines, with Republican Sen. Colton Moore voting against the legislation and Democratic Sen. Emanuel Jones casting a vote in support of the bill.
Senate Bill 68, sponsored by Macon Republican and Senate President Pro Tem John F. Kennedy, includes a variety of measures that proponents say are aimed at ensuring more balance between plaintiffs and defendants during personal injury trials. The bill includes provisions that would limit owners’ liability for injuries that occur on their property, restrict special damages awarded for medical bills to the actual amount paid by the plaintiff, and enable trials to more easily be bifurcated, or split into multiple stages so that juries can determine liability and damages separately.
“This legislation is not about protecting corporate profits,” Kennedy said. “It’s not about caving to the demands of the insurance companies or denying Georgians their ability to be fully and fairly compensated when they need to go to court. Instead, it is about stabilizing costs and putting all Georgians — no matter where your zip code is — first.”
Kemp has repeatedly declared efforts to overhaul Georgia’s legal system — sometimes referred to by supporters of limits to lawsuits as “tort reform” — his top priority of the 2025 session, arguing that sweeping policy changes are necessary to bring down insurance costs for businesses throughout the state. The governor vowed to bring back lawmakers for a special session if he felt they came up short in delivering “meaningful, impactful” changes.
However, the proposed legislation has received fierce opposition from Democrats and the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, who say the bill might limit Georgians’ constitutional right to seek damages without effectively bringing down insurance rates.
The bill appeared to be in danger of falling short of the 29 votes necessary to pass the legislation out of the chamber just one day prior to the bill appearing on the floor, when a top Kemp aide appeared on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Politically Georgia talk show and threatened to use the governor’s leadership committee to back primary challengers for any Republicans who voted against the bill or supported “unfriendly amendments.”
But the governor ultimately endorsed the changes that were made to the bill. Sen. Bo Hatchett, a Cornelia Republican and trial lawyer, said he worked with Kemp, Kennedy and Lt. Gov.Burt Jones Thursday evening to “thread the needle” and find an effective compromise that “reflects fairness and balance between our beliefs.”
“There have been allegations that anyone who dares to change this bill will face a primary opponent,” Hatchett said. “Well, my job is to create good law. This amendment achieves the governor’s original goals while making common sense adjustments that strengthen the bill, and I’m happy to share that’s what we did. This is a friendly amendment born from all of us coming together at the table and doing good policy.”
The amendment altered a section of the bill aimed at limiting damages awarded for medical costs, sometimes referred to by the bill’s supporters as “phantom damages.” Under Georgia’s current law, juries are not told the out-of-pocket costs that plaintiffs pay for medical care, and are presented only with the upfront costs. The version of the bill that passed out of committee would have reversed that standard, limiting what juries are told about damages awarded for medical costs to only the out-of-pocket costs of medical care, rather than the full amount charged by health care providers.
The version passed Friday gives jurors the ability to see both the sticker price of plaintiffs’ medical care and their out-of-pocket costs, which supporters of the compromise say lends the jury greater transparency when deciding how to award damages.
Most Democrats opposed the bill, arguing that the legislation would not effectively reduce insurance costs and would make it harder for everyday Georgians to hold corporations accountable for misdeeds.
“There is nothing in this bill that provides relief from those sky-high premiums,” said state Sen. Jason Esteves, an Atlanta Democrat. “There’s nothing in this bill that provides you relief from increasing insurance rates, and even worse, it will prevent thousands of Georgians who have been legitimately injured or killed from filing lawsuits and suing people who have done them wrong.”
At a Thursday press conference, Senate Democrats also introduced a rival bill, SB 223, which they say will better address the issue of frivolous lawsuits by proposing legal protections that reward businesses for taking steps to improve on-site safety for their customers.
“I think it was actually a pretty good amendment,” he said of Hatchett’s proposal. “Phantom damages is something that’s been going on for a while now and we’re glad they were able to work that out.”
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce, a strong proponent of overhauling Georgia’ damages system, applauded the bill’s passage.
“For the past 20 years, securing tort reform has been the top legislative priority of the Georgia Chamber,” Georgia Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Chris Clark said in a statement. “The Georgia State Senate passing SB 68 is an important first step toward that goal, and we look forward to working with Georgia’s legislative leaders to do right by Georgians and get both SB 68 and SB 69 signed into law so our courts can focus on justice—not jackpots.”
A less controversial companion bill easily passed out of the committee this month but has not been scheduled for a vote. That second bill would increase regulations on third-party sources of funding for lawsuits and bar foreign governments and adversaries from financing litigation.
The Georgia Trials Lawyers Association, which vigorously opposed the bill to limit jury awards, declined to comment after it cleared the Senate.
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