Georgia senators voted 33-21 on Friday to support Gov. Brian Kemp’s top-priority legislation to limit lawsuits, but not before some of Kemp’s fellow Republicans extracted a concession in exchange for the votes necessary to secure a majority.
Senate Bill 68 moves on to the House for more debate as Kemp continues to marshal a political and lobbying push. A second bill that would limit third-party funding of lawsuits has not yet come before the full Senate.
Kemp’s bill sets stricter standards for when owners are accountable for injuries on their property, and stops attorneys from recovering fees twice for the same case. It allows separate trials for assigning responsibility and determining damages, and tries to make sure defendants can get a baseless case dismissed before engaging in expensive pretrial preparation.
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