While these cases fact patterns are not typical liability or insurance defense cases, they demonstrate that the apportionment statute has been held to apply to a wide range of cases and situations and is the law in Georgia with respect to fault and/or damages. Alston & Bird LLP v. Hatcher Management Holdings, LLC, A15A1677 (Ga. […]

While a duty to defend claims of malicious prosecution may be subject to exclusion, special limits, or a combination of the two by virtue of the language of a particular insurance policy, it is often difficult to determine when the cause of action accrued for purposes of identifying the operative policy period to analyze any […]

The Center for Disease Control reports that fall injuries are among the 20 most expensive medical conditions with average hospital costs of $35,000.00.  The wide and innumerable factual scenarios presented in trip, slip and fall incidents have blurred the line of conduct that creates legal liability for a premises owner or occupier.   While property owners […]

In the recent case of Scully v. The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, 332 Ga. App. 873, 775 S.E.2d 230 (2015) (Cert. Denied) David C. Scully, a student at Georgia Tech, brought suit against the University System of Georgia after he was injured while visiting a friend that attended the University […]

The Supreme Court of Georgia in the recent opinion Walker v. Tensor Mach. Ltd., No. S15Q1222, 2015 WL 7135149, (Ga. Nov. 16, 2015), continued to expand the apportionment law, this time to nonparty employers with immunity under the Workers’ Compensation Act. The question certified to the court was whether or not the Georgia Apportionment Statute […]

Pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, a jury may apportion a percentage of fault to any person or entity who contributed to the complainant’s alleged damages, regardless if the person or entity was a party to the litigation. It is, however, the defendant’s burden to establish a rational basis for apportioning fault to a non-party, and […]

Georgia remains one of the top 10 states in the nation for dog bites and other dog-related injury claims, according to the Insurance Information Institute.  In 2014, homeowner’s insurance policies paid out $12.2 million for dog-related injury claims in Georgia with an average cost per claim of $31,497.  Nationwide, man’s best friend accounted for more […]

Perhaps nothing can be more disheartening than a court finding a defendant responsible for spoliation of evidence. This is because a finding of spoliation gives rise to a rebuttable presumption that the subject evidence was harmful to the spoliator. Thus, even a very innocent error in safeguarding potential evidence can be fatal to an otherwise […]

Parties who have reached a settlement more often than not are very happy to know that the case has been resolved as opposed to having the outcome of the case dictated to them by twelve strangers on a jury. Sometimes, however, the resolution of a case by settlement is complicated due to the parties’ varying […]

Georgia’s case law on apportionment of fault to a non-party continues to evolve.  In Zaldivar v. Prickett, S14G1778 (Ga. July 6, 2015) the Georgia Supreme Court attempted to clear up how apportionment would apply.   The apportionment statute provides when “assessing percentages of fault, the trier of fact shall consider the fault of all persons or […]