Kemp inks tort reform bills

ATLANTA . Gov. Brian Kemp signed two tort reform bills Monday that supporters say should reverse a pattem of excessive jury awards they hold responsible for rising liability insurance premiums that are hurting Georgia businesses’ bottom lines.

Overhauling the civil litigation process in Georgia was the Republican govemor’s top priority for the recently concluded 2025 General Assembly session.

‘‘These two bills level the playing field in Georgia’s courtrooms and ensure our business environment remains the best in the nation,” Kemp said during a signing ceremony at the state Capitol.

Senate Bill 68, which House Speaker Jon Burns called the most comprehensive lawsuit reform in Georgia in nearly two decades, deals with issues involving trial procedure, including when plaintiff lawyers can argue for non-economic damages, when discovery can begin, and when lawyers on either side can request dismissal of: a case.

But the legislation’s most controversial provision put new limits on “premises liability,” which governs when plaintiffs can sue business owners after suffering injuries during the commission of a crime by a third party outside the owner’s control.

To get enough legislative Republicans on board to pass the bill, the House amended the Senate measure to carve out victims of Sex trafficking and their lawyers ftom the bill.

The Republican-backed Senate Bill 68 cleared both legislative chambers largely along party lines, with Democrats arguing it goes so far in shielding businesses fiom liability that it effectively will deny victims their day in court.

Kemp pushed back on that argument Monday. ‘If you are wronged, you deserve to be made whole and can be, 99 he said. ‘‘This legislation protects that very right.”

The second tort reform measure, Senate Bill 69, is much more narrowly drawn and enjoyed bipartisan support, at least in the state Senate. It focuses on a growing number of lawsuits being financed by third parties where financiers who are not a party to a case pay the costs of pursuing litigation in exchange for a portion of any judgement a plaintiff is awarded.

Rather than abolish third-party financing, the bill puts in guardrails to protect plaintiffs entering into such arrangements. It passed the Senate unanimously but drew 42 ‘no” votes in the 180-member House.

Business groups praised the governor for getting behind tort refom this year, as did the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a a think tank that advocates free-market approaches to public-policy issues.

‘These new laws will bring muchneeded fairness and transparency to a system that has become costly and unpredictable, said Kyle Wingfield, the nonprofit’s president and CEO. “Georgia has long been recognized as the best state in the nation to do business, and these refoms will help ensure it remains that way.’