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 […]
Beginning December 1, 2015 several new changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure take effect. This article will address the major changes, but there are also minor changes in the rules based upon these changes, most of which change references to other rules and/or sections of rules as needed based upon the major changes […]
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 […]
What may come as a surprise to some homeowners is that a standard homeowner’s insurance policy does not cover damage caused by flooding. The basic homeowners’ policy supports a home’s structure; personal possessions, such as furniture, clothes, electronics, etc.; certain liability claims brought against the homeowner; and sometimes additional living expenses if you must relocate […]
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 […]
We all remember that dramatic moment when OJ Simpson was asked to put on the black gloves in front of the jury in the so-called “Trial of the Century.” Both gloves, according to the prosecution, contained DNA evidence from Simpson, Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, with the glove found at Simpson’s house also containing a […]
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 […]