Governor Brian Kemp put forth details for his priority legislation last week. After tapping the brakes on a legislative initiative that was expected last year, he has decided to give an all-in push for tort reform during this 2025 meeting of the Georgia General Assembly.  

The move was telegraphed last year, when it was clear that other priorities would limit attention and the necessary political capital needed for a somewhat controversial initiative.  Matters that require a bit of arm twisting in an effort to get 91 votes in the House and 29 votes in the Senate are also best avoided during an election year.

This year, however, the intention has been made clear.  From the Governor’s remarks at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s Eggs & Issues breakfast – where he emphatically stated he would need everyone in the capacity filled ballroom to help - to his State of the State address where he again outlined the need directly to legislators, it’s clear this is the agenda item the Governor wants taken seriously and methodically, yet expeditiously. 

The stakes are high.  Georgia still claims the title as the number one state to do business. Too often the business climate must intersect with the legal climate.  The weather in the latter is significantly less favorable to those operating a business while trying to manage their open ended liabilities and ever increasing insurance costs.  

Georgia consumers have noticed their insurance premiums escalating well above the rate of inflation as well.  While insurance companies are quick to point to the increasing cost of claims due to higher car prices, home costs, and increasing catastrophic storm claims, the liability associated with legal claims is a cost embedded in every policy sold.

“Tort reform” is a nebulous title that means many things to many people.  Initiatives have varied state to state, based on each state’s legal climate and costs thereof.  With the rollout of Governor Kemp’s legislative framework, we now know specifically what this means for Georgians in 2025.  

The bill would reevaluate the standards for “premises liability”. Businesses would only be liable for security issues they directly control.  Currently, property owners & businesses can be sued if something bad happens to someone for virtually any reason while on or entering/exiting their property.

The bill would tighten the standards for determining medical damages in personal injury cases, as well as prohibit “anchoring” pain and suffering damages to unrelated or nebulous examples that don’t directly apply to the defendant.

The bill would allow for a bifurcated trial, so that the jury would have to find liability of the defendant before being presented with evidence of the defendant’s injuries and damages.  This should cut down on the direct costs of trials.

Juries would be allowed to hear evidence that plaintiffs were not wearing seatbelts in accident cases. This is so that they may consider whether the plaintiff contributed through their own actions and/or negligence to the severity of their injuries. 

Loopholes in current law would be closed that sometimes allow for double collection of plaintiff’s attorney’s fees.  Plaintiffs would also be precluded from dismissing cases during a trial, only to refile the same case with a different jurisdiction in the hopes of finding a more favorable judge and/or jury.  

Defendants, meanwhile, would be allowed to file an immediate motion to dismiss.  Currently, they must go through the discovery process first which requires time and attorney’s fees – even if the case lacks merit to make it to trial.  

The proposal also has several items to limit third party litigation.  The goal here is to thwart foreign adversaries to use the courts to gain access to trade secrets or intellectual property through litigation and discovery.  It would also discourage predatory lenders from using the court system to get an upper hand on litigants in vulnerable situations.  

Those are the Governor’s main objectives. They sound reasonable on the surface. And yet, the fight will be epic. The final version will likely be a bit different presuming the bill can pass both chambers – though this has the support of both Lt. Governor Jones and Speaker Burns.  

One of Georgia’s media outlets shared the line when reporting on this story via social media that Republicans control both chambers so the bill is likely to pass.  This ignores a couple of major political realities.

There are a large number of elected Republican attorneys who closely guard what can and can’t be presented to juries in Georgia.  There is also a major shift within the Republican base from the “Chamber of Commerce” GOP to a more populist Republican base.  

Trial lawyers sell populism every day.  The trial for the bill has now begun.  A jury of 180 State Representatives and 56 State Senators awaits the closing arguments for deliberations to begin in earnest.