If you were hurt in a car wreck, slip and fall, or any other accident in Atlanta after April 21, 2025, the rulebook has changed. Georgia tort reform SB 68 personal injury law has quietly reshaped how insurance companies value your claim, what a jury is allowed to hear at trial, and how much money you can actually put in your pocket at the end of a case. If you don’t understand these new rules, the insurance company will use them against you.
My name is Buddy Huntley, and I’ve been fighting insurance companies for injured Georgians for years. Since Governor Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 68 into law, I’ve watched adjusters get bolder, offers get lower, and defense lawyers get more aggressive. Here’s a plain-English breakdown of what SB 68 actually does — and how it affects your injury claim in 2026.
What’s in This Guide
- What Is Georgia SB 68?
- How SB 68 Changed the Way Medical Bills Are Presented
- The New Seatbelt Rule Insurance Companies Love
- Anchoring, Non-Economic Damages, and What Your Lawyer Can Say
- Bifurcated Trials: Liability and Damages Split in Two
- Premises Liability and Negligent Security Limits
- What You Should Do If You Were Injured in Georgia
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Georgia SB 68?
Senate Bill 68 is the most sweeping overhaul of Georgia’s civil justice system since 2005. Governor Kemp signed it on April 21, 2025, and most of the law took effect immediately. It changed multiple parts of the Georgia Code, including O.C.G.A. § 51-12-1 (damages), O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33 (apportionment), and O.C.G.A. § 40-8-76.1 (the old seatbelt “gag rule”).
Supporters — mostly insurance carriers and large business groups — argued the law would rein in “nuclear verdicts” and keep insurance premiums under control. Trial lawyers and consumer advocates, myself included, saw it very differently: SB 68 gives corporate defendants and insurance companies powerful new tools to lowball injured people. Whichever side of the debate you land on, the reality is the same. If your accident happened after April 21, 2025, these rules apply to your case.
Hurt in a Georgia accident since April 21, 2025?
These new laws are already being used to reduce settlement offers. Don’t fight the insurance company alone — get a free case review from an attorney who knows exactly how SB 68 works.
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How SB 68 Changed the Way Medical Bills Are Presented
Before SB 68, if a hospital charged you $80,000 for surgery — even if your health insurance later paid a discounted rate of $18,000 — the full $80,000 “billed” amount could go in front of the jury as your medical damages. This is what the insurance industry called “phantom damages.”
SB 68 changed that. Now, only the amounts actually paid or reasonably expected to be paid for necessary medical care are admissible. In many cases, that means the number the jury sees is much smaller. Because non-economic damages like pain and suffering are often calculated as a multiple of medical bills, a lower medical bill number can drag down the entire value of your claim.
What this means for you: the way your medical treatment is documented, coded, and billed now matters more than ever. A good personal injury lawyer will work with your providers, get itemized statements, and, when appropriate, use expert testimony to show a jury the real cost and reasonable value of your care.
The New Seatbelt Rule Insurance Companies Love
For decades, Georgia had a “seatbelt gag rule” under O.C.G.A. § 40-8-76.1. It said that whether you were wearing a seatbelt could not be used against you in a civil injury case. Even if you were unbelted, the jury never heard about it.
SB 68 killed that rule. Now, evidence that you were not wearing a seatbelt is admissible on issues of negligence, comparative negligence, causation, assumption of risk, and apportionment of fault. In plain English, the defense lawyer can now stand in front of the jury and say: “This injury wouldn’t have been as bad if she’d been buckled up — so it’s partly her fault.”
Under Georgia’s modified comparative negligence rule (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33), if a jury decides you were 50% or more at fault, you recover nothing. Even at 30% or 40% at fault, your award gets slashed by that percentage. The seatbelt change is a direct pipeline for shifting blame onto injury victims.
The seatbelt rule only applies to cases filed after SB 68’s effective date, not to cases that were already pending. But if your wreck happened in the last year, you should assume the defense will try to use it.
Anchoring, Non-Economic Damages, and What Your Lawyer Can Say
“Anchoring” is a legal term for when an attorney throws a big number at the jury early — sometimes tied to nothing at all — to plant a reference point for damages. You might have heard a lawyer say something like, “The Mona Lisa is worth $800 million; what’s a human being’s suffering worth?” SB 68 shuts that down.
Under the new law, arguments about non-economic damages (pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life) must be rationally related to the evidence in the case. Your lawyer cannot suggest a specific dollar amount for non-economic damages until closing argument, and even then, the number must be tied to actual evidence presented at trial.
This is one of the reasons picking the right lawyer matters so much under SB 68. Building a case that supports a strong non-economic damages award now takes more preparation: detailed medical records, day-in-the-life testimony from family, treating physician narratives, and vocational or life-care planning experts. A firm that just fills out settlement demand forms is going to leave money on the table under this new regime.
SB 68 was written to help insurance companies pay less. We were built to make them pay what your case is worth.
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Bifurcated Trials: Liability and Damages Split in Two
SB 68 gives either party in a bodily injury or wrongful death case the right to request that a trial be “bifurcated” — split into two separate phases. Phase one decides who is at fault (liability). Only if the defendant is found liable does the jury move to phase two, which is about how much your injuries and losses are worth (damages).
On paper, this sounds neutral. In practice, it heavily favors defendants. During the liability phase, the jury never hears about the severity of your injuries — the crushed vertebrae, the traumatic brain injury, the missed years of work, the child who lost a parent. That emotional context is stripped out of the fault decision. Studies of bifurcated trials consistently show they produce more defense verdicts and smaller awards.
The request has to be made before the pretrial order, so this is a strategic decision that has to be made early. Your lawyer needs to be thinking about it from the very first meeting.
Premises Liability and Negligent Security Limits
If you were shot, assaulted, or otherwise hurt on someone else’s property — an apartment complex, a gas station, a parking lot, a bar — SB 68 also changed the rules for holding that property owner accountable. The law now says property owners are not required to exercise “extraordinary care” and cannot be forced to take on the role of law enforcement.
Additionally, negligent security liability is now limited or barred entirely in several situations: when the injured person was a trespasser, when the injury actually happened off the premises, when the wrongful act happened somewhere the owner had no legal authority to exclude the attacker, when the injured party was committing a felony or theft-related misdemeanor at the time, and when the injury occurred in a single-family residence.
These changes apply only to causes of action that arose on or after the law’s effective date. If you were hurt at an apartment complex, hotel, or other business due to inadequate security in 2025 or 2026, your case needs to be analyzed under the new framework by a lawyer who understands both the old and new law.
What You Should Do If You Were Injured in Georgia
SB 68 makes almost every step of a Georgia personal injury case more technical and higher-stakes. Here’s what I tell every new client:
- Do not give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurance company. Under the new anchoring and evidence rules, anything you say can be twisted at trial.
- Get medical treatment immediately and follow through. Gaps in treatment are one of the fastest ways to lose value under SB 68.
- Document everything. Photos, witness names, dashcam footage, and copies of every medical bill matter more now than ever.
- Do not accept the insurance company’s first offer. Adjusters have been trained to use SB 68 as leverage. Their first number reflects the new law’s discounts, not your case’s real value.
- Hire a lawyer who has actually tried cases under SB 68. This is not the moment to hire the billboard firm that settles everything on the courthouse steps.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does SB 68 apply to my case if my accident happened before April 21, 2025?
Most provisions of SB 68 apply to cases filed or causes of action arising after its effective date. Some provisions, like the new negligent security limits and the medical damages rules, only apply to causes of action arising on or after April 21, 2025. The seatbelt evidence rule applies only to cases filed after that date, not to already-pending cases. An attorney needs to look at your specific accident and filing dates to tell you exactly which rules apply.
Will SB 68 reduce how much money I can recover for pain and suffering?
SB 68 did not put a cap on non-economic damages, but it changed how your lawyer is allowed to argue for them. Since specific dollar amounts can only be suggested in closing argument and must be tied to the evidence, cases now require more careful documentation of pain, disability, and life impact to support a strong award.
If I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt, can I still file a personal injury claim in Georgia?
Yes, you can still file a claim. But under SB 68, the defense can now bring up your seatbelt use as evidence of comparative negligence. Because Georgia bars recovery if you are 50% or more at fault, a strong lawyer who can rebut those arguments is critical.
Does the new law make it harder to sue an apartment complex after an assault?
Yes, in many situations. SB 68 narrows negligent security liability and creates several categories where property owners cannot be held responsible. Whether your case still has merit under the new law depends on specific facts — where the assault happened, your status on the property, and what the owner did or didn’t do to keep the premises safe.
How does SB 68 change what an insurance company will offer me?
Adjusters are already using SB 68 to justify lower offers, especially in cases involving large medical bills, unbelted occupants, or premises liability. That is exactly why you should not negotiate alone. A free consultation costs you nothing and gives you a realistic picture of what your case is worth under the new rules.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Attorney W. Buddy Huntley III | My Lawyer Is My Buddy | Atlanta, Georgia