ATRA Applauds Passage of S.B. 68 to Address Phantom Damages, Jury Anchoring, Seat Belt Evidence Admissibility
Last week, the Georgia Senate passed critical tort reform legislation on a 33-21 vote. Senate Bill 68 now will move to the House.
“We are pleased that the Georgia Senate quickly passed this important piece of legislation aimed at creating a more fair and balanced civil justice system for all Georgians,” Tiger Joyce, president of the American Tort Reform Association said. “We urge the members of the House to answer the call of their colleagues in the senate and send this legislation to the governor’s desk.”
S.B. 68 addresses numerous issues to improve the state’s civil justice system, including reforms to address “phantom damages” and “jury anchoring” as well as empowering juries with critical evidence regarding seat belt use in cases involving vehicle crashes.
Phantom damages are awards based on inflated medical bill amounts that were never paid — Georgia courts often base awards on these billed amounts rather than real payments. Jury anchoring is a practice in which lawyers suggest an unreasonably large award before a jury with that number becoming an “anchor” point in juries’ minds. These practices lead to higher litigation costs across the board.
Georgia is ranked the fourth-worst “Judicial Hellhole®” in the country by the American Tort Reform Foundation. After spending two years atop the list at No. 1, the state dropped slightly in the rankings due to Gov. Kemp’s prioritization of and steady calls for tort reform in Fall 2024.
“We appreciate Gov. Kemp’s diligent pursuit of lawsuit reform in his state through various roundtable meetings with stakeholders and collaboration with lawmakers,” Joyce said.
The state’s persistent ranking is due in large part to the increasing prevalence of multi-million-dollar verdicts, spurred by practices like jury anchoring and the allowance of phantom damages presented during trial.
“Georgia’s civil justice system has been on the decline for more than half of a decade now, but the state skyrocketed to the top of the Judicial Hellholes® rankings after a record-breaking $1.7 billion punitive damage verdict in August 2022 in a case riddled with biased rulings and ethical concerns,” Joyce said. “If Georgia wishes to continue touting its status as the best place in the country to run a business, it needs to put commonsense measures in place to rein in these runaway verdicts.”
Such excessive tort costs result in a $1,415 annual “tort tax” paid by each Georgia resident — that’s nearly $5,662 annually for a family of four. This cost has increased more than 27% since 2021 and also leads to an estimated loss of 134,898 jobs across the state each year.
Senate President Pro Tempore John F. Kennedy is the primary sponsor of S.B. 68. He is joined by Sens. Gooch, Robertson, Anavitarte, Walker, Cowsert, Ben Watson, Echols, Dolezal, Still, Kirkpatrick, Beach, Payne, Ginn, Lee Anderson, Williams, Burns, Albers, Dixon, Setzler, Brass, Goodman, Hodges, Sam Watson, and Harbin.
The Senate also is considering legislation to regulate third-party litigation financing, S.B. 69.
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