As the dust settles in the wake of Georgia’s much-awaited lawsuit showdown in the House, one thing seems clear: A special session is looking much less likely.
Gov. Brian Kemp had threatened to drag lawmakers back to Atlanta for a special session if “meaningful, impactful” changes were not made to the state’s civil justice system this year. And after weeks of debate, the Kemp-backed overhaul passed the House in a razor-thin 91-82 vote Thursday, clearing one of the final legislative hurdles before it reaches the governor’s desk.
The heavily contested bill is one of the few votes in the 2025 legislative session that did not fall cleanly along party lines, with eight House Republicans breaking ranks to vote against the legislation and three House Democrats joining the majority to secure the bill’s passage.
Senate Bill 68, sponsored by Macon Republican and Senate President Pro Tem John F. Kennedy, now returns to the Senate for a final vote, though it is expected to clear the chamber a second time.
The omnibus bill includes eight substantive provisions that proponents say are aimed at ensuring more balance between plaintiffs and defendants during personal injury trials. Among the changes are provisions that would limit owners’ liability for injuries that occur on their property, restrict damages awarded for medical bills, and enable trials to more easily be split into multiple stages so that juries can determine liability and damages separately. The version that passed the House contains a few key amendments added in the House Subcommittee of Rules on Lawsuit Reform that carves out greater protections for survivors of human trafficking, but lawmakers failed to extend similar protections to other child, elderly and sexual assault victims.
The bill faced fierce opposition from crime victims and their families, as well as trial lawyers and victims’ advocates, who repeatedly gathered to protest SB 68 at the state capitol in the weeks leading up to the House vote. The bill’s passage through the Legislature also coincided with a bombshell Tampa Bay Times and Miami Herald investigation which found that for years, insurance companies in Florida urged state legislators to pass similar measures limiting lawsuits due to claims of financial hardship while illegally funneling money to investors and subsidiaries. Though Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation was aware of the insurance companies’ actions, the agency never alerted lawmakers, leading Georgia Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes to call for a similar investigation into Georgia insurance companies.
But despite the widespread criticism, lawmakers were able to amass enough votes to push through the legislation. House Speaker Jon Burns, a Newington Republican, celebrated SB 68’s passage, saying that the bill will return “stability” to Georgia’s insurance marketplace. He also announced the formation of a new House study committee dedicated to examining Georgia’s insurance landscape even further.
“The members of this chamber took another critical step to deliver a substantive, meaningful lawsuit reform that will return a much-needed balance to our litigation environment, stabilize our insurance markets and protect the rights of all Georgians,” Burns said.
The civil litigation overhaul’s passage was also applauded by business groups like the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Americans for Prosperity-Georgia and Georgia Retailers, which rallied in support of Kemp’s overhauls.
“For the past 20 years, securing tort reform has been the top legislative priority of the Georgia Chamber,” Chris Clark, the president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber said in a statement. “The House passage of SB 68 takes us to the brink of finally delivering meaningful tort reform for Georgia. We look forward to working with Georgia’s legislative leaders to do right by Georgians and finish the job by getting both SB 68 and SB 69 signed into law.”
But Democrats, who have been advocating against the legislation from the beginning, expressed disappointment over the bill’s passage, with Minority Caucus Chair Tanya Miller, an Atlanta Democrat who served on the House Rules Subcommittee where the bill was heard, calling the SB 68 “one of the most poorly drafted bills I have ever seen as a lawyer.”
Democratic leadership also expressed frustration with the members of their caucus who broke ranks to vote for the legislation.
“We were sent here to make hard decisions, and hard decisions are hard because you have to look people in the eye that you disappoint,” said Rep. Stacey Evans, an Atlanta Democrat. “Those victims won’t be here every day, but the chamber will be here. Insurance companies will be here, and I think too many of my colleagues were worried about walking down the hall and looking them in the eye and not worried about the people back home.”
Trial lawyers, who have spent their careers advocating for crime victims in personal injury cases, also condemned the bill’s passage and what they see as inaccurate rhetoric around how victims will be affected.
“We put so much energy into this to try to help people — especially non lawyers — understand the practical impact,” said Andy Rogers, a personal injury lawyer at the Atlanta firm Deitch & Rogers who has been speaking out against the bill. “It was hard to listen to comments from the floor from the supporters of the bill today talk about things that just weren’t accurate.”
Kara Phillips, another personal injury lawyer at Deitch & Rogers, emphasized the impact a new limit on damage awards will have on the most vulnerable victims she represents.
“It’s children, it’s the elderly, it’s all sex assault victims and survivors who are going to be impacted,” she said. “Every single one of them are going to have their claims barred by this.”
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