At its current session, the Georgia Legislature considered ten bills that, if passed, would have had a direct impact on the state’s transportation industry. The last day of the Georgia legislative session, known as sine die, was March 29, 2023. The final order of each bill is listed below, but here are the key takeaways:
- Virtually none of the legislation we hoped would get through, including: allowing seat belt failures, eliminating direct claims/several bills limiting unnecessary discovery and direct negligence claims against transit companies, continuing COVID-19 liability protections for companies, formal adoption of the Apex doctrine and elimination of “constructive notice” on negligent security claims.
- The relevant bills currently awaiting signing by the governor are:
- House bill 543: increases the amount for six-person juries from $25,000 to $50,000 when 12 jurors are not required. https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/64715
- Senate Act 168: allows a chiropractic practice to file a lien on a cause of action just as a hospital may file a lien in similar circumstances. Added a change to require bills to be submitted to health insurers before a medical lien can be submitted. https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/64337
The passage of Senate Bill 168 is significant because it gives liens to chiropractors, which will make it more difficult to negotiate those medical bills and ultimately resolve cases involving chiropractic treatments. The requirement to file bills with health insurers could potentially mitigate this issue, but only in cases where a plaintiff is insured.
Below we summarize the final arrangement of each invoice.
HOUSE BILL 543:
Increases minimum damages required for 12-member jurors from $25,000 to $100,000. This bill awaits Governor Kemp’s signature.
HOUSE BILL 530:
Officially enacts “Apex Doctrine” in Georgia to limit testimony from senior corporate officials. When disclosure is required of certain senior corporate or public officials, a court may protect an individual or party from “anger, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense” by including measures that limit the scope and nature of the disclosure and maintain the confidentiality of certain information. This bill did not receive a vote in the Senate and was therefore not passed.
HOUSE BILL 271:
Eliminates direct claims against auto carrier insurers. Note that Georgia is currently only one of four states that still allow direct action lawsuits. This bill did not pass the House.
HOUSE BILL 275:
Limits detection in civil lawsuits:
- Restricts the determination of drivers’ safety performance history to certain federal standards.
- Limits detection of GPS data or video to the date the accident or motion violation in question occurs.
This bill did not pass the House.
SENATE BILL 2:
Extends COVID liability protection with no expiration date to businesses and healthcare providers, provided they are not grossly negligent in conducting their business. This bill was not heard, so it was not adopted.
SENATE ACT 142:
Expands the definition of a “dangerous dog” and requires a “dangerous dog” owner to purchase a minimum probable liability insurance policy of $500,000.00. This bill did not pass the Senate.
SENATE BILL 186: Georgia Landowners Protection Act
- Eliminates constructive notifications when third-party criminal activity takes place on a landowner’s property.
- In order to be held liable for criminal acts by third parties on a landowner’s property, the landowner must actually have knowledge of the activity and have contributed to the damage.
- Determines the distribution of fault norms in property liability suits against property owners for criminal acts by third parties as follows:
- Only the relative degrees of culpability (no pending criminal charges or financial resources of the parties) need to be considered.
- An injured party shall not be entitled to compensation if he is fifty percent or more responsible.
- If the jury does not find the third party reasonable fault, the court may reverse the verdict and request a retrial.
This bill didn’t go to the Senate, so it didn’t pass.
SENATE BALANCE SHEET 191:
Like HB 271, repeals provisions allowing direct action claims against motor transporter insurers. This bill was not called to the Senate and therefore was not passed.
SENATE ACT 192:
Like HB 275, limits detection in civil claims:
- Restricts the determination of drivers’ safety performance history to certain federal standards.
- Limits detection of GPS data or video to the date the accident or motion violation in question occurs.
This bill did not pass the Senate.
SENATE ACT 196:
Determines that failure to wear a seat belt is admissible as evidence of negligence in civil lawsuits. Note that the bill was defeated in the Senate Transportation Committee but was subsequently revived and narrowly passed in the committee vote on February 27, 2023. This bill was not passed by the Senate by 5 votes.
SENATE ACT 200:
Like HB 530, officially adopts the Apex Doctrine to limit testimony from senior corporate officials. SB 200 provides that a court may protect a person or party from “anger, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense” when disclosure is required of certain senior corporate or public officials, with measures including limiting the scope and the manner of disclosing and maintaining the confidentiality of certain information. As noted above, this bill was not brought to the Senate because the Senate leadership decided to work on HB 530 in the Senate (we note that HB 530 was not passed; both bills failed).
SENATE BILL 203: Trucking Opportunity Act of 2023
- Eliminates direct action claims against motor insurance carriers in tort and contractual causes of action.
- Allows truck drivers to drive domestic trade only:
- Drive a motor vehicle for 12 hours, provided that he has not been or should have been on duty for more than 16 hours, and
- Deliver 70 hours of service in 7 days or 80 hours of service in 8 days.
- Includes a presumption that a truck driver, if obtained a commercial driver’s license under federal standards, is qualified to drive a commercial motor vehicle.
This bill passed the Senate (but only after removing meaningful language). It was not heard in the house, so it was not passed.
