Insurance Company Strategies After SB 68: What Injury Victims Should Expect
A serious car accident claim can turn difficult fast. Medical treatment starts early. Bills pile up. Time away from work creates pressure. Pain can linger long after the crash itself. Then the insurance company begins shaping its response. After Georgia enacted SB 68, insurers had stronger reason to challenge certain parts of injury claims earlier and more aggressively.
That does not mean every case is suddenly worth less. It does mean insurers now have a more favorable environment for pressing on damages, plaintiff conduct, and case value. Guidance from an Alpharetta car accident lawyer can help keep the claim focused on the crash, the injuries, and the losses that followed instead of the narrower story the insurance company wants to tell.
SB 68 Changed the Leverage in Injury Claims
SB 68 changed more than one rule. Georgia’s 2025 legislative materials describe it as a broad revision affecting civil practice, evidentiary matters, damages, and liability in tort cases. The law touched several areas that matter in injury claims, including seat belt evidence, medical-expense proof, noneconomic-damages presentation, and trial procedure.
Insurance companies do not need every change to apply in every case to benefit from a law like that. What matters is that the law gives them more room to argue for limits, reductions, and lower numbers. Once the legal environment shifts in that direction, claim handling usually shifts with it.
Expect More Attention to Seat Belt Use and Plaintiff Conduct
One of the clearest car-accident consequences of SB 68 is the treatment of seat belt evidence. Georgia’s legislative materials identify seat belt usage as one of the subjects addressed by the bill, and the Governor’s office described the reform as allowing a jury to know whether a plaintiff wore a seat belt in an auto accident.
That gives insurers another point of attack in a wreck case. A claim that once focused more directly on the careless driver can now draw heavier attention to the injured person’s conduct. In some cases, that can affect the way the carrier talks about fault. In others, it will affect the way the carrier argues about the extent of the injuries. Either way, plaintiff conduct is likely to get more attention than it did before.
Expect Harder Fights Over Medical Bills
SB 68 also changed the landscape for medical-expense damages. Georgia’s official summary says the Act revised recovery of special damages for medical and healthcare expenses in personal injury and wrongful death cases. The Governor’s office described that part of the legislation as permitting evidence of both the amounts billed and the amounts actually paid for medical care.
That shift gives insurers more room to fight over treatment value. A carrier now has stronger ground to question whether billed charges reflect the reasonable value of the care. Cases involving surgery, injections, imaging, lengthy therapy, or extended pain-management treatment are especially likely to draw that kind of pushback. The issue is no longer just whether treatment happened. The issue becomes what the insurer will say that treatment was really worth.
Expect Lower Offers Earlier in the Case
SB 68 also changed the environment around pain-and-suffering presentation and trial structure. Georgia’s official materials say the law limited certain noneconomic-damages presentation tactics and permits bifurcation of trial proceedings in personal injury cases. Those changes give insurers a stronger basis to argue that the overall case value is lower than it would have been before.
That is likely to show up first in negotiations. An insurance company may not wait for a courtroom ruling to use the new law to its advantage. It can use the changed environment right away to justify a lower offer. The message will usually sound practical rather than dramatic: the rules changed, the risks are different, and the case should settle for less. For an injured person still treating and still trying to understand the full medical picture, that pressure can arrive long before the real value of the case is clear.
What to Watch for Right Away
The early signs are usually not subtle. The insurance company may ask more pointed questions about seat belt use. It may zero in on treatment timing, billing records, or whether certain care was necessary. It may press for settlement before the injury picture is fully developed. Working with an Alpharetta car accident lawyer early can help identify those pressure points before they turn into the framework for the whole claim.
A post-SB 68 claim needs a clear story and disciplined documentation. Medical records matter. Billing records matter. Photos matter. The timing of symptoms and treatment matters. When an insurer sees new room to cut value, the response has to be organized early enough to keep the claim from being defined on defense terms.
Contact Cheeley Law Group
If you were hurt in a Georgia car accident and the insurance company is already using SB 68 to question your injuries, challenge your treatment, or press for a lower number, Cheeley Law Group is ready to help. We represent injured people in serious Georgia car accident claims where insurers are looking for every available way to pay less.
Contact us to speak with a trusted Alpharetta car accident lawyer about protecting the value of your claim and responding to the insurance company’s post-SB 68 strategy.
Sources:
- Georgia General Assembly, SB 68
legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20252026/230894 - Governor’s Office of Georgia, Gov. Kemp Signs Historic Legislation Delivering Commonsense, Meaningful Tort Reform
gov.georgia.gov/press-releases/2025-04-21/gov-kemp-signs-historic-legislation-delivering-commonsense-meaningful