What Are the Key Provisions of Georgia’s 2025 Tort Reform (SB 68)?
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Senate Bill 68 has eight substantive sections. It limits how lawyers may argue noneconomic damages, changes answer, motion-to-dismiss, and voluntary-dismissal procedure, bars duplicate fee awards, lets juries consider seat belt evidence, creates a statutory negligent security claim, limits medical expense damages to reasonable value, and lets any party demand a phased trial. It took effect on the Governor’s approval, recorded in the 2025 legislative summary as April 21, 2025. Under Section 9(b), the negligent security and medical expense sections apply only to causes of action arising on or after that date; the General Assembly’s stated intent is that the rest apply to pending cases unless that would be unconstitutional.
The eight sections
| SB 68 section | Code section | What it does | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | § 9-10-184 | No testimony or reference to a specific amount of noneconomic damages; argument on value only after the close of evidence, rationally related to it | Pending cases (§ 9(b)) |
| 2 | § 9-11-12 | Answer timing after a motion; a stay of discovery while a motion to dismiss filed with or before the answer is decided, with limited discovery allowed for some defenses | Pending cases |
| 3 | § 9-11-41 | Voluntary dismissal by notice only before the sixtieth day after the opposing party serves an answer | Pending cases |
| 4 | § 9-15-16 | No recovery of the same attorney's fees, costs, or expenses more than once under different statutes unless a statute authorizes it; a contingency fee agreement is not admissible to prove a fee's reasonableness | Pending cases |
| 5 | § 40-8-76.1 | Seat belt nonuse may be considered on negligence, causation, apportionment, and damages, subject to the court's evidence rulings | See the SB 69 rule below |
| 6 | §§ 51-3-50 to 51-3-57 | A statutory negligent security cause of action, with its own elements, exclusions, and apportionment rules | Causes of action arising on or after April 21, 2025 |
| 7 | § 51-12-1.1 | Medical expense damages limited to the reasonable value of medically necessary care; insurance amounts admissible; letter of protection discovery | Causes of action arising on or after April 21, 2025 |
| 8 | § 51-12-15 | Any party may demand that fault and damages be tried in phases before the same jury | Pending cases |
Three provisions in more detail
- Two medical-expense concepts. Section 51-12-1.1(b) sets the measure, “the reasonable value of medically necessary care, treatment, or services”. Subsection (c) is an evidence rule: where the plaintiff has health insurance, the jury hears both the amounts charged and “the amounts actually necessary to satisfy such charges” under the insurance contract or the governmental workers’ compensation program. The second is evidence of the first, not the measure itself.
- Seat belts follow SB 69’s timing. Senate Bill 69, passed the same session, rewrote § 40-8-76.1(d) with the same text and provides that its version applies “only to causes of action commenced on or after the effective date”.
- Phase 1 of a split trial can include injuries. In Transcontinental Carriers, Inc. v. Bennett (Ga. Ct. App. Sept. 9, 2026), the Court of Appeals held that because “proving fault requires proving both injuries and proximate causation under the facts of an individual case”, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in letting the plaintiff describe the injuries and their extent in the fault phase; only the amount of compensatory damages waits for phase 2.
Where each change is explained
- Arguing pain and suffering: how pain and suffering is valued and per diem arguments
- Voluntary dismissal and refiling: refiling after a dismissal without prejudice
- Seat belts: whether not wearing a seatbelt can be used against you
- Negligent security: property owner liability for an attack by someone else
- Medical expenses: health insurance evidence, letters of protection, and future medical expenses
- Phased trials: the bifurcation rule
- Litigation funding (SB 69): what SB 69 does to third-party funding
Sources
- Senate Bill 68 (2025), as passed, LC 49 2362S
- Senate Bill 69 (2025), as passed, §§ 4, 5.
- Transcontinental Carriers, Inc. v. Bennett, No. A26A1643 (Ga. Ct. App. Sept. 9, 2026)
- Georgia General Assembly, 2025 Summary of General Statutes Enacted, entries for Acts 9 and 10.
General information about Georgia law as of October 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.