Lawmakers in the Georgia House and Senate introduced bills this year to change the state's damages apportionment statute to apply to cases with only one defendant in addition to cases with more than one defendant.

Senior associate George S. Ray is keenly watching the Georgia legislative session and told Law 360 that the apportionment bills are the most interesting of this year's proposals impacting civil litigation.

While the Senate bill has had no traction since its introduction and referral to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 12, H.B. 961 is likely to pass into law without much trouble, Ray said. The bill unanimously passed out of the House on March 1 and was soon after referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it remains.

"There's a lot of energy behind it," Ray said. "The business community is pretty unified. Coming into the session, it was probably the biggest issue in the civil litigation space we were hearing about at the [state] Capitol. I think it stands a pretty good chance."

Ray also discusses other legislation with the legal media outlet.