Kemp's big lawsuit award limit bill on the move as 2025 Georgia Legislature winds down

Yahoo

19-03-2025

Senate President Pro Tem John F. Kennedy, a Macon Republican who sponsored the bill, reiterated his claim that the legislation is aimed at restoring balance between plaintiffs and defendants in Georgia's civil courtrooms. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's top priority in the 2025 Legislature got a little closer to the finish line Tuesday after a state House panel signed off on a bill intended to limit lawsuit damage awards.
The House Subcommittee of Rules on Lawsuit Reform passed Senate Bill 68 in a contentious vote Tuesday afternoon, clearing a path for the omnibus bill dedicated to overhauling Georgia's civil litigation landscape to advance to the House after weeks of debate over the Kemp-backed legislation.
The tort legislation is moving quickly, with a full state House vote on track as soon as Thursday. The 2025 legislative session ends April 4.
Senate President Pro Tem John F. Kennedy, a Macon Republican who sponsored the bill, reiterated his claim that the legislation is aimed at restoring balance between plaintiffs and defendants in Georgia's civil courtrooms during the committee's fifth and final planned hearing on the bill.
Though Kennedy repeatedly resisted proposed amendments to the bill as it passed through the Senate committee, the version that passed the House Rules committee did contain a few minor changes, including one that marginally increased protections for sex trafficking survivors.
'I believe that the bill you have before you is a carefully-crafted compromise,' he said.
Survivors of human trafficking have been some of the most prominent voices against Kemp's civil litigation overhaul, holding multiple protests at the capitol to sound the alarm about aspects of the bill they say could shield businesses from accountability and prevent nearly all victims from receiving justice through the civil justice system.
Kennedy tried to assuage some of the concerns that the damage limits will hold businesses like extended-stay hotels less accountable if a jury finds property managers and owners enabled human trafficking, claiming that 'the intention of SB 68 is not to harbor, enable or turn a blind eye in any regard to such grotesque activity and conduct.'
Another amendment to the bill speeds up the timeline for trials split to consider culpability separately from monetary damages. The aim is to ensure that separate phases of a trial can happen 'immediately' using the same judge and jury, rather than being spread out over weeks or months. It also exempts survivors of sexual violence and plaintiffs in lawsuits that are less than $150,000 from having to testify multiple times.
'What we have done is an attempt to codify a body of law and introduce a workable framework to provide stability to businesses and consumers while ensuring fair compensation to those that have been wronged,' Kennedy said.
However, the amendments fell short of the sweeping exemptions for all children, elderly victims and survivors of sexual assault that trial lawyers and victims' advocates had requested, and an omnibus amendment offered by Atlanta Democrat Stacey Evans which would have extended the bill's protections beyond human trafficking survivors was voted down.
Before the panel amended the bill, it failed to make allowances for victims who want to bring property liability claims that go beyond just the physical condition of a property and also pertain to issues like negligent behavior by employees or management. Under the amended version of the bill, plaintiffs who were injured at a business would have to prove that someone had exploited the physical condition of the property to harm them, even if the business owner had knowledge of similar wrongful conduct occurring in the past and failed to act to keep customers safe.
'We're trying to put additional parameters and guardrails on when someone is responsible or legally liable for negligent security,' Kennedy said. 'And if it's foreseeability alone, that's not enough. It requires these additional provisions.'
Trial lawyers, who warn about the unintended consequences SB 68 could create for Georgians seeking justice through the civil court system, condemned the bill's passage out of committee. Andy Rogers, a personal injury lawyer at the Atlanta firm Deitch & Rogers who has been following the bill, said he wasn't surprised that SB 68 passed the committee, but added that he was 'frustrated with the lack of intellectual honesty' in discussions lawmakers were having about the bill's impact.
'The fact that there's a carve-out for sex trafficking victims is great and makes perfect sense, but that's only been done because of the recognition by the drafters that sex trafficking victims would be harmed by the current language in SB 68,' he said. 'Which, by necessity, means that all of the other potential plaintiffs are going to be harmed by SB 68. There's just no other way to think about it.'
If this bill becomes law, Rogers added, he will most likely be having two types of conversations with clients who come to his office.
'If they were victimized by crime other than sex trafficking, it's going to be very, very difficult to prove their case,' Rogers said. 'And if their attack was the result of something unrelated to the physical condition on the property, they probably have no case.'
Meanwhile, House Republicans applauded the committee's passage of SB 68, with Speaker Jon Burns, a Newington Republican, reiterating his support for Kemp's legislation.
'Each provision included in Senate Bill 68 has been meticulously crafted to ensure fairness for Georgia's businesses and citizens alike,' Burns said in a statement shortly after the bill passed through the committee. 'We're looking forward to its passage out of the House later this week.'
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