Since its release earlier this month (July 2016) the Pokemon Go mobile app has generated trending news stories of player related injuries caused by distracted driving and walking. San Diego news channels reported that two men fell off a cliff in attempt to capture the virtual character. Various local police departments have increased public warnings […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
It has long been the rule in Georgia that the award of damages for pain and suffering is determined by the enlightened conscience of fair and impartial jurors. But proposed amendments to Georgia’s Pattern Jury Instructions may expand the factors put before a jury to determine this item of damages. Under the current pattern instructions, […]
In City of Atlanta v. McCrary, 760 S.E.2d 696 (2014) Plaintiffs alleged, among other claims, that the City of Atlanta maintained a nuisance by failing to enforce its own high speed pursuit policy after a high speed chase resulted in a deadly collision. In reversing the trial court, the Court of Appeals seemed skeptical that […]
The Court of Appeals recognized how the traditionally ministerial act of vehicle maintenance can become discretionary when the maintenance act at issue is neither standard nor routine. In City of Milledgeville v. Primus, 325 Ga. App. 553, 753 S.E.2d 146 (2013), Lucricious Primus was injured when the brake line burst in the bus he was […]
Under the doctrine of respondeat superior in Georgia, an employer is liable for injuries to another proximately resulting from the acts of an employee committed within the scope of his or her employment. O.C.G.A. § 51-2-2. Typically speaking, Georgia law does not consider an employee’s commute within the scope of employment for the purposes of […]
In the recently-decided Adams v. Laboratory Corporation of America, Case No. 13-10425, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals provided some legal guidance on application of industry guidelines to motions to exclude expert testimony. The case concerned the Plaintiffs’ claim that Defendant LabCorp repeatedly failed to identify abnormal cells in Pap smear reviews, resulting in a delay in […]