Gov. Brian Kemp signing lawsuit reform package on Monday

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will add another notch to his belt of legislative victories on Monday, April 21, when he signs the state’s historic attempt to rein in what his supporters call frivolous and excessive jury awards.

Kemp will sign Senate Bill 68 and Senate Bill 69, which he named as his key legislative priorities before the 2025 Georgia General Assembly.

“Action was desperately needed to stabilize our insurance marketplace and protect our consumers,” Kemp said. “Childcare facilities, truckers, restaurant owners, doctors, hospitals, grocery store owners, gas station companies, you name it, the calls for change came from every sector of Georgia’s economy. The status quo was simply unacceptable.”

Tort reform, which would overhaul Georgia’s civil litigation system, would make it harder to sue businesses for things that happen on their property, a concept known as premises liability. But survivors and families of victims say it could also make it harder for them to seek justice against wrongdoers.

Small business owners in the state said they’re frustrated with constantly having to pay huge settlements over lawsuits they feel are frivolous. Kemp has gone so far as to term it “lawsuit abuse,” and many in the legislature agreed, including several Democrats who crossed the party aisle to support the bill.

The bill raises the threshold for holding businesses accountable for what happens on their property. Under the proposed legislation, businesses would have to have prior knowledge of a safety issue or a wrongdoing employee in order to be sued.

Opponents of the bill said nothing in its language actually required insurance companies to lower their rates.

“We don’t have that promise,” said Kara Phillips, a plaintiffs attorney in Atlanta. “Ultimately the insurance companies are the ones behind this, pushing this along, and they have no intention of changing any of the premiums.”

Phillips, who has represented countless clients in civil cases, says the premise liability clause will make things less safe.

“The incentives that property owners have to keep their place safe and to take reasonable measures to keep it safe are basically disappearing,” she said. “And it was already something that they weren’t doing many times.”

The bill was heavily supported by the business community, which said insurance premiums were rising so rapidly that some small businesses couldn’t afford it anymore.

In recent years, the legal industry has spent tens of millions of dollars on advertising, promising big payouts in the six-or-seven-digit range for accidents, slip and falls, medical malpractice and emotional distress. Ironically, some of the lawmakers pushing hardest for tort reform are, themselves, attorneys.

Kemp said people can still use the civil courts when they’re wronged, but said the new laws “level the playing field” for those involved.

“Let me be clear, if you are wronged in this state, you deserve to be made whole and you still can be,” he said. “SB68 and 69 simply bring transparency and fairness to a process that has been abused for too long that have driven up costs for businesses and consumers alike.”

Kemp spent a lot of political capital pushing for the bill’s passage, even threatening to back primary opponents against lawmakers who stood in the way. State Rep. Vance Smith, R-Pine Mountain, said he was fired from his job as CEO of the Harris County Chamber of Commerce after voting against Kemp’s tort reform package.

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