Tort reform is on the menu in 2025, and multiple states acted this year to improve their respective legal landscapes. The most notable effort took place in Georgia, where, as noted by Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan, “Recently passed tort reform legislation in the Georgia General Assembly addressed the rampant legal system abuse that has plagued citizens of the state.”
However, even as some states acted to improve the litigation environment, others attempted to roll back reforms. Here, we take a look at the ups and downs of the legal reform battles around the country as the insurance industry and business community seek to rein in escalating jury awards and troubling trends such as the continued rise of third-party litigation funding (TPLF)
Georgia
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed significant tort reform legislation on April 21, 2025. As reported online in CLM Magazine by authors JD Keister, Ashley Howard, and Jeffrey M. Wasick (McAngus Goudelock & Courie), SB 68 and SB 69 mark “the most comprehensive tort reform Georgia has seen in decades. Together, the laws overhaul key aspects of the state’s civil litigation system and aim to deliver greater balance, transparency, and predictability.”
More specifically, SB 68 reshapes longstanding rules in Georgia civil practice and evidentiary law, the article notes, reforming how courts handle admissibility of seat belt use in auto cases, tightening negligent security liability by requiring more specific and foreseeable warnings of harm, and limiting recovery for medical expenses to their reasonable market value. “It also ends the practice of double-dipping on attorney’s fees across overlapping statutes, curtails voluntary case dismissals by plaintiffs, and aligns Georgia’s civil procedure more closely with federal standards by staying discovery during dispositive motion practice.” In addition, the new law permits the trifurcation of trials in wrongful death cases, allowing courts to separate liability, compensatory damages, and punitive damages into distinct phases—which the article notes is an effort to reduce jury bias and streamline complex proceedings. Finally, an “anti-anchoring” provision aims to discourage the presentation of artificially high damage figures intended to sway jurors.
Key to SB 68 will be how the reforms are implemented. The article suggests that Georgia can look to other states for guidance: “For instance, the state of North Carolina has both a medical bill evidence rule (Rule 414) as well as a bifurcation statute that allows for a party to bifurcate liability from damages on cases with a minimum value attached. The bifurcation of liability has proven to be a very powerful tool and one that enables a jury to render a fair and impartial verdict on a substantial liability issue without being influenced by extensive discussion of damages or the impact that the incident had on the plaintiff. It has also allowed for creative high-low to take place where the high-low gets immediately put into effect based upon a specific ruling on the liability front.
“Likewise, North Carolina is one of several states that allow evidence of the medical bills paid to come into evidence. This presents a jury with actual evidence of medical bills that they need to reimburse, if appropriate, rather than inflated totals that simply lead to inflated verdicts not based on actual damages. On the positive side, where a jury uses a multiplier, the lower the specials, the lower the multiplier. The industry should be aware; however, that in states where evidence of medical bills has been allowed, there has been an increased trend of plaintiffs not putting medical bills into evidence in any way. We expect to see this trend increase in Georgia.”
SB 69, meanwhile, is a TPLF transparency measure, requiring disclosure when a lawsuit is being financed by an outside investor. This law aligns with efforts across industries to address TPLF and the influence of investors in litigation who often remain anonymous.
Those efforts are beginning to gain attention both at the federal and state levels. In the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 1109, the Litigation Transparency Act of 2025, was introduced in February. In addition, states such as Montana, Indiana, West Virginia, and Louisiana have taken action to require TPLF disclosures and further regulate the practice, as reported by Maryan Alexander (Wilson Elser) online in CLM Magazine. Adam Shores, senior vice president of state government relations, APCIA, points out to CLM that a TPLF disclosure bill was signed into law in Kansas last month as well.
Regarding the Georgia legislation recently signed into law, Kevelighan says, “While it will take time to see the positive impacts of [SB 68 and SB 69] because of the high volume of lawsuits working their way through the Georgia court system, it will help curb excessive litigation costs, generating more availability and affordability of insurance coverage for personal and commercial policyholders.”
He adds, “The Peach State has been a top venue for lawsuit abuse for many years, maintaining a notorious spot on the American Tort Reform Foundation’s infamous Judicial Hellholes list. With the rise of billboard attorneys who aggressively market their services, the number of frivolous lawsuits has soared across the state, driving up economic costs for everyone.”
Shores, points to Georgia’s neighbor as an example of the positive impact the legislation could have. “Over time, the legal reforms can help rein in abusive practices that artificially drive-up claims costs in Georgia and have a direct impact on the pocketbooks of Georgians. In Georgia’s neighboring state of Florida, recent legal system abuse reforms are having a positive impact as the state’s litigation environment improves and insurance rates stabilize. We are hopeful the same positive effects will be experienced in Georgia.”
Florida
Speaking of Florida, efforts were underway this year to roll back some of the significant reforms passed in 2022 and 2023, however the bills in question failed to advance. Given the success of the reforms, what was the rationale behind the attempts to roll them back? Kevelighan says, “Billboard attorneys who serve in the Florida House of Representatives spearheaded an effort in this year’s legislative session to roll back tort reform measures passed in 2022 and 2023, which helped stabilize the state’s property/casualty market. Fortunately, state Senate leaders did not agree with these measures, and they did not advance.”
A Cole, Scott & Kissane (CSK) article on the rollback efforts notes that HB 1437 in Florida would have reinstated one-way attorney fees, “inviting trial attorneys to file more baseless litigation at no cost to them.” HB 1181, CSK says, would abolish PIP and instead require bodily injury liability and property damage coverage in lieu of mandatory no-fault coverage. “Once PIP is gone, there will no longer be a permanent injury threshold,” CSK notes. “In other words, in a bodily injury system, suit and recovery of noneconomic damages would be permitted for any injury, no matter how small.” Both bills were introduced in February and indefinitely postponed May 3.
Says Kevelighan, “Florida tort reform has been a great success story and created a blueprint for other states to follow. Consumers are benefitting from a competitive market with competitive pricing. The Sunshine State has experienced a 40% year-over-year decline in new lawsuits and the lowest average rate filing in the U.S. in 2024 at 1%. Thirteen new property insurers have entered the state and existing carriers are growing their market share, including six of the top 10 national insurers operating in the state. Additionally, state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has reduced its risk exposure by nearly 50% due to successful depopulation to private insurers.”
Louisiana
The legal system featured prominently in Louisiana this year as well. Kevelighan pointed to five key legislative measures aimed at “curbing the negative impact of legal system abuse by protecting consumers and helping reduce insurance costs.”
A Times-Picayune article identifies those bills as HB 450, HB 434, HB 431, HB 436, and SB 231.
Shores describes the measures to CLM, stating, “Some key highlights (this is not all encompassing): Two favorable legal system abuse reform bills passed out of the legislature and are headed to the governor’s desk—HB450, the Housley Presumption bill that eliminates the judicially created rule that assumes a relationship between an accident and an injury without evidence of causation; and HB434, a No Pay No Play bill with a $100,000 cap. HB 431, a modified Comparative Fault bill that limits damage recovery if the plaintiff is found to be 51 percent or more at fault, passed the Senate and is scheduled for concurrence in the House [this bill has since passed the House and is headed to the governor]. In addition, SB 231, a medical transparency bill passed the Senate and is now headed to the House.”
The news in Louisiana is not all positive, as Kevelighan notes. He says, “However, not all legislation passed during the 2025 legislative session supports reform. HB 148 could take Louisiana in the wrong direction. This proposal gives the insurance commissioner the power to deny auto and home insurance rate increases without relying on data and actuarial science. It would require insurers to publicly disclose information about rate filings which is considered confidential. This measure opens the door to politics, rather than facts, dictating how much people pay for insurance, which would be a step backward for Louisiana’s marketplace.
“We have seen how badly this process can go. In California, similar laws have caused disruption in the state’s insurance market. As a result, companies pulled back and customers had fewer choices as well as higher prices. The Louisiana bill could have a similar negative market impact.”
While Shores notes that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has indicated his support for many of the legal reform bills, the Times-Picayune article points out Landry is also supporting HB 148, over the objections of Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple. The article describes the bill’s aim to grant greater authority to the insurance commissioner to reject excessive rate increases, “which Landry has said several times would prompt him to blame Temple if rates remain high.”
Around the States
Additional tort reform efforts included actions taken in South Carolina, Texas, and Montana. Regarding South Carolina, Kevelighan explains, “In the final days of the South Carolina state legislature’s session, the state Senate passed an historic piece of legislation in a 41-1 bipartisan vote that will address legal system abuse and skyrocketing insurance premiums for businesses across the Palmetto State. The legislation addressed liquor liability costs, which have become exceedingly burdensome for local restaurants and bars. Another provision of the legislation is intended to curb frivolous lawsuits by requiring plaintiffs to show a burden of proof when naming defendants in lawsuits.
“However, more change might be on the horizon. The Senate was pushing for broader joint-and-several liability reforms facing all industries, while the House insisted it only had time to consider something tailored to alcohol. While HB 3430 was the resulting compromise, the House has reportedly agreed to discuss more in-depth tort reform during the 2026 legislative session.”
Shores sums up efforts elsewhere around the country: “There are legal system abuse reform bills moving in Texas. Texas continues to be plagued by lawsuit abuse that makes it a national standout for excessively large verdicts and settlements, costing all Texans. It is crucial that targeted legal system abuse reforms, such as disclosure of TPLF and truth in damages, be adopted.
“The Montana legislature passed a measure last month to amend the original 2023 third-party litigation funding law and establish new provisions addressing foreign funding (SB 511). Lawmakers further strengthened an excellent TPLF reform law to add new regulations that explicitly prohibit litigation funding in Montana courts from foreign adversaries and foreign persons of concern. The bill also includes registration requirements and restricts litigation financers from forming affiliations with these foreign entities or accepting funds from them.”
Overall, Shores points to some of the positive momentum on tort reform in the U.S. He says, “We are seeing state legislatures across the country move forward on proactive legal system abuse reforms, such as [TPLF], phantom damages, and bad faith reform. TPLF, in particular, is gaining significant momentum across the country as lawmakers look to increase transparency and enhance consumer protections around the use of TPLF in our courts.”
Of course, the recent efforts to roll back reforms in Florida demonstrate the need for vigilance even when reforms are passed, and there are always bills being considered that would make legal environments more challenging. Shores notes one such effort in 2025: “In Maryland, a trial bar effort to eliminate caps on non-economic damages failed with the adjournment of session last month.”