Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp unveiled his tort reform bill package that is touted to level the playing field in courtrooms.
Issues addressed in the two-bill package include phantom damages, anchoring, bifurcated trials, seat belt use and third-party litigation financing.
Gov. Kemp said in prepared remarks that Georgia’s legal environment is draining bank accounts and is hurting job creators of all sizes in nearly every industry in the state.
“Grocery stores, hospitals, road pavers, small-business owners, truckers, restaurants, mom-and-pop stores, retailers, gas stations, doctors, child care facilities and hardworking Georgians across our state are all telling us the same thing: Georgia needs tort reform, and they need it now,” Kemp said during a press conference announcing the reform package.
2024 tort reform law
Tort reform pursuit is not new at the Georgia statehouse. A year ago, the Republican governor signed into law a bill to repeal a nearly century-old direct-action statute that covered truck drivers.
The rule revision is intended to help address the needs of truck drivers in the state. The action followed the 2023 recommendation of a special legislative panel on trucking.
At the time, Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King said the state’s direct-action rule permitted a plaintiff to take direct action against the responsible insurance company. He added that Georgia did not allow any insurer to be named as a defendant in any other business except trucking.
Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, added that with the rule in place, the cost of insurance for truck drivers had risen so rapidly in recent years it put Georgia truckers at a competitive disadvantage with operations in other states.
The 2024 law put into place limits on lawsuits filed by individuals injured in truck-related incidents.
The rule largely eliminates the state’s direct-action law. Exceptions to the truck driver rule apply to instances when a trucking operation enters bankruptcy or the truck company cannot be located.
Phantom damages and anchoring
Inflated medical costs, or phantom damages, are covered in the governor’s tort reform package.
A plaintiff would be required to seek damages only for medical costs actually paid or that will be paid in the future, rather than an inflated amount introduced in evidence.
Kemp said the rule change would ensure Georgians who are successful in their litigation “are made whole and have their costs covered, while protecting consumers from inflated costs being passed on to them.”
Another provision would eliminate the ability to arbitrarily anchor pain-and-suffering damages to a jury. Specifically, anchoring tactics by attorneys in closing arguments would be prohibited.
The governor said the rule change is necessary to allow a jury to use its own discretion instead of using artificial benchmarks like the number of miles a truck was driven.
Kemp clarified the change would protect a jury’s decision-making from “irrelevant and improper arguments” from counsel. As a result, he added, the jury would be empowered to decide an award amount on its own.
Bifurcation and seat belt use
Bifurcated trials are also addressed in the tort reform package.
According to the Legal Information Institute, bifurcated trial means that the trial is conducted in two stages. A common division is to determine liability or guilt in the first stage and damages or penalties in the second.
The proposal in the reform package would allow a party to move for bifurcation of a trial so that liability must be established before the jury hears evidence detailing the extent of the plaintiff’s damages.
The change is touted to clarify important procedure in the courtroom and give both sides of a case the same opportunity to have their arguments heard.
Seat belt usage is another covered topic. The governor said the current rule “defies common sense.”
The revision would remove the current exclusion from the state’s evidence code that prevents the defendant from showing evidence the plaintiff was not wearing his or her seat belt in a vehicle accident.
The change would allow admission of seat belt evidence at trial to be used by the defense to mitigate damages, particularly where the plaintiff’s failure to use the device results in significantly worse injuries for the plaintiff.
Proud to sponsor @GovKemp Tort Reform Package.
With the Judiciary Committee’s stamp of approval, we are one step closer to stabilizing costs for healthcare providers, job creators, and Georgia consumers. Let’s get it done! pic.twitter.com/PE88zgApe1
— John F. Kennedy (@johnfkennedyga) February 11, 2025
Third-party litigation financing
Kemp added that the tort reform package would ensure transparency in third-party litigation financing.
The term is used to describe instances when third-party litigation financing firms pay for lawsuits they feel have a good chance of being won. In many cases, the practice makes reaching a reasonable agreement more difficult due to the anonymous third party’s financial stake in the case.
The governor highlighted that his reforms would prohibit litigation funders from having any input on the litigation strategy or from taking an unreasonable share of the plaintiff’s award.
Additionally, third-party litigation funding agreements would have to be disclosed to the other party in a case.
The Senate Judiciary Committee met recently to consider the bill package – SB68 and SB69. The committee voted to advance the legislation to the full Senate. LL
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