If you live in Georgia and care about your rights after an accident, it’s time to pay attention to two laws that recently passed: Senate Bills 68 and 69.
Touted as insurance reform designed to lower premiums, these bills promise relief for your wallet. But the truth? They protect insurance companies, not injured Georgians. And while they create new hurdles for victims trying to recover compensation, they offer no guarantee—none whatsoever—that your insurance premiums will actually go down.
At Hasty Pope, we’ve been fighting for injured people across Georgia for decades. And we can tell you firsthand: these laws will make justice harder to get.
What These Bills Actually Do
Let’s break it down. Senate Bills 68 and 69 make it more difficult for plaintiffs—the injured parties—to succeed in court. Here’s how:
- Limits on Medical Reimbursement: If your health insurance paid your medical bills, you can no longer recover that amount in court. That means you may never be made fully whole after a serious injury.
- Restrictions on Trial Lawyers: These bills limit what attorneys can say in court, including suggesting fair compensation amounts to the jury.
- Two Trials Instead of One: They allow insurance companies to push for bifurcation (two separate trials), which drags out the legal process, increases costs, and exhausts victims and their families.
The result? Injured Georgians face longer, more expensive cases and are more likely to receive less than what they need and deserve.
The Promise of Lower Premiums Is a Myth
Supporters of these bills claim that reducing litigation will result in lower insurance premiums for Georgia drivers. But let’s look at the facts:
- No Guarantee in the Bill: There is nothing in the text of either Senate Bill 68 or 69 that mandates or even suggests your premiums will decrease.
- Insurance Companies Are Profiting: According to recent reports:
- Travelers Insurance earned over $2 billion in a single quarter.
- Allstate brought in $1.2 billion.
- Progressive made $942 million in Q3 2024.
These are not companies in need of protection—they are thriving.
- Case Study: Florida: Florida passed similar tort reform in 2023. Instead of rates going down, insurance premiums increased by 30% the following year. There’s no evidence the same won’t happen here.
Real Consequences for Real People
Let us share what this looks like in practice. We recently handled a case where a young father was hit on Highway 575. The crash left him with hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. The insurance company’s first offer? Less than half of what he needed to recover.
We prepared the case for litigation. We took depositions, gathered medical evidence, and showed we were ready to try the case. The result? A $1.25 million settlement that gave him the care and stability his family needed.
With these new laws in place, stories like his will become much harder to write.
Our Pledge to You
We respect our lawmakers. But we will never stop fighting for our clients.
At Hasty Pope, we’ve been taking cases to trial for over 30 years. And that won’t change. We won’t back down from an insurance company trying to pay less. And we won’t stop holding them accountable—no matter what changes in the law.
If you or a loved one has been injured, don’t settle for less. Hire a team that will fight, investigate, and try your case if necessary.
Take Action
Let your voice be heard. Contact your local legislators, your senator, Governor Kemp, and Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones. Ask them: Where in these bills does it guarantee lower premiums for Georgia families?
Spoiler: It doesn’t.
If we don’t speak up now, we risk losing more than compensation—we risk losing justice.