Georgia state Sens. John F. Kennedy, (left) and Brian Strickland confer on proposed tort overhaul legislation heard by a committee Monday. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
Two bills aimed at upending Georgia’s lawsuit damage cap rules just cleared the first hurdle, passing through the Senate Judiciary Committee late Monday evening.
The bills collectively include a wide range of policy changes aimed at lowering insurance costs for Georgia doctors, businesses and residents, an issue Gov. Brian Kemp has pinpointed as his top priority of the 2025 legislative session.
Senate Bill 68, sponsored by Macon Republican and Senate President Pro Tem John F. Kennedy, includes a cap on pain and suffering evidence 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. The version of the bill that passed the Senate panel included small updates aimed at providing plaintiffs’ lawyers more flexibility to suggest a monetary value to compensate for pain and suffering.
At the committee hearing where he presented the bill, Kennedy echoed rhetoric from Kemp, Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King and other proponents of the legislation, arguing that the bills are aimed at creating a more balanced legal landscape.
“The substitute before this committee incorporates the input of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, plaintiffs’ attorneys and even senators on this committee,” Kennedy said. “I believe that the substitute before you contains eight reasonable solutions intended to bring balance and stability to our civil justice system.”
The second bill, Senate Bill 69, would increase regulations on third-party sources of funding for lawsuits, requiring any third-party entities to be registered with the Department of Banking and Finance and limiting their ability to exert influence over the plaintiffs’ legal decisions, such as when and how plaintiffs settle a case. It also prevents foreign governments and adversaries from financing litigation.
The hearing featured hours of testimony from business owners, insurance brokers, trial lawyers and other stakeholders, including King, who was tasked with producing a report on Georgia’s insurance landscape that much of the legislation is based on. In his testimony, King acknowledged that the legislation may not lead to a reduction in insurance rates soon, but argued that they could help reduce further increases in rates.
“A lot of people ask me, ‘Well, can you guarantee that the rates will drop?’” King said. “I can’t guarantee that, I think it would be wrong for me to tell you that, but I can guarantee you that they will go up if we don’t do something about it.”
But Democrats on the committee pushed back, arguing that the legislation favored insurance companies at the expense of Georgia consumers, and that awarding large jury verdicts is the mechanism that tort law uses to hold companies accountable.
“Part of the way our system has been set up is to shape behavior of businesses, but many more, through the risk of ‘if your actions then have led someone to be harmed on your property, you are then liable,” said Sen. Elena Parent, an Atlanta Democrat.
Republicans on the committee also expressed hesitation with some aspects of the bill. Sens. Bo Hatchett and Blake Tillery, who both work as trial lawyers, cited concerns about how the legislation would impact survivors of human trafficking and residents of trailer parks. However, Kennedy repeatedly declined requests from the committee to amend the bills.
“It’s not what the governor wanted to propose in this tort reform package,” he told the committee.
The Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (GTLA) also provided strong opposition to the bill, with seven speakers outlining objections to different aspects of the legislation.
“I could go on for a while about issues in this bill but I would ask you to not pass this bill,” said Mike Moran, who serves as the Directed Giving Committee Co-Chair of the GTLA. “If there are reasonable things that need to be done, there are reasonable ways to do it where everybody can work together.”
“This [bill] is punitive,” Moran added. “This is not good for Georgians.”
The committee, chaired by McDonough Republican Sen. Brian Strickland, deliberated for more than five hours before voting to pass SB 68 with an 8-3 vote along party lines. The other tort bill debated Monday won bipartisan support, passing soon after with a 10-1 vote. Sen. Harold Jones II, an Augusta Democrat, was the lone vote against. The bills is now set for a vote in the Senate.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.