IN THE PROFESSION
Georgia’ s Tort Reform Act: One Year In
LOUIS COHAN Cohan & Levy lcohan @ cohanlevy. com
“ One year in, the best we can say is that the proverbial jury is very much still out on the Georgia Tort Reform Act of 2025.”
Professor Jeffrey Van Detta Atlanta’ s John Marshall Law School
O ne year in, the best we can say is that the proverbial jury is very much still out on the Georgia Tort Reform Act of 2025.”
Professor Jeffrey Van Detta Atlanta’ s John Marshall Law School
Last year, Governor Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 68( the“ TRA”) into law, reforming tort law procedurally and substantively. Supporters hailed it the most consequential tort reform package in Georgia in nearly two decades. They saw the
TRA as reforms that would reduce litigation abuse, curb“ nuclear verdicts,” and stabilize insurance premiums. Opponents were equally outspoken, seeing the act as leaning heavily toward corporate defendants and insurers.
The TRA was sweeping. It altered the culture of personal injury litigation, targeting inflated verdicts driven by emotional advocacy. It restricted the use of anchoring arguments in pain-and-suffering claims, expanded the availability of bifurcated trials, altered the admissibility of seat belt evidence, narrowed negligent security liability, modified discovery and dismissal procedures, limited certain attorney’ s fee recoveries, and introduced extensive regulations governing third-party litigation funding.
That said, we all knew that the true significance of the reforms will be measured by how courts interpret and apply the rules to actual litigation. One year in, and we are just starting to see cases. An interesting aspect was that the TRA applied to cases that were actively pending, with only three provisions applying to new causes of action.
20 MAY / JUNE 2026