Georgia: “Fault” of Employer Can Be Considered in Plaintiff Employee’s Tort Action Against Third Party

Georgia’s apportionment statute, OCGA § 51-12-33(c) requires the trier of fact to consider the “fault” of all persons or entities that have contributed to the plaintiff’s alleged injury or damages, including nonparties. The fault of the nonparty must be considered even when the nonparty might have a valid defense or immunity against its own liability to the plaintiff. Accordingly, where a plaintiff employee filed suit against a defendant alleging plaintiff sustained injuries in an auto accident as a result of defendant’s negligence and the defendant contended that the plaintiff’s employer negligently entrusted the vehicle to plaintiff, it was appropriate for the trier of fact to consider the employer’s alleged negligence in spite of the fact that the employer could never be made a party to the action. That the employer was immune under the exclusive remedy provisions of the Georgia Workers’ Compensation Act was not relevant to the apportionment of “fault.”

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Zaldivar v. Prickett, 2015 Ga. LEXIS 508 (July 6, 2015) [2015 Ga. LEXIS 508 (July 6, 2015)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 120.02 [120.02]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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