What Is Georgia’s Non-economic Damages Cap — and Why Does It Matter?

What Is Georgia’s Non-economic Damages Cap — and Why Does It Matter?

Georgia Code Section 51-13-1, enacted as part of Senate Bill 3 in 2005, placed a cap on noneconomic damages — things like pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of consortium — in medical malpractice cases. For years, insurance companies and healthcare defendants used this cap to limit what injured patients and grieving families could recover, regardless of how severe the harm or how egregious the negligence.

The cap had long been controversial. In Atlanta Oculoplastic Surgery, P.C. v. Nestlehutt (2010), the Georgia Supreme Court struck down the cap as applied to pain-and-suffering damages, finding it violated the right to jury trial. The recent Turner decision from the Georgia Supreme Court left this holding undisturbed. The Rockdale court’s July 2025 ruling builds powerfully on that foundation.