Georgia's Continuing Battle Over Respondeat Superior And Apportionment Claims

• Published date: 23 June 2022
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Trials & Appeals & Compensation, Personal Injury
• Law Firm: Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP
• Author: Mr Wm. Daniel Floyd and G. Ches Graham III

Atlanta, Ga. (June 22, 2022) - Respondeat superior claims in Georgia continue to be a hot button topic. Several key legal updates occurred, which swung the needle in both directions, affecting both liberal and conservative applications of the claim. Georgia courts have traditionally recognized the doctrine of respondeat superior - a doctrine that simply means an employer can be held liable for the actions of an employee, if an employee was operating in the course and scope of their employment at the time of the underlying incident.

Under a long-standing procedure, following the Georgia Tort Reform of 2005, when "an action is brought against more than one person for injury to person or property," Georgia's Apportionment Statute, Section 51-12-33(b) requires a jury to assign the percentages of fault among those parties found liable, for the purposes of ascertaining damages. As a result, the claims encompassed by the respondeat superior rule are claims that the employer is at "fault" within the meaning of the statute. Significantly, by following the applicable statute, a jury would be restricted from assigning fault to the employer separately from the employee's fault under the claims of negligent entrustment, hiring, training, supervision, and retention. Thus, commercial carriers and similar employers that admitted vicarious liability were then, under respondeat superior, entitled to summary judgment on the above noted direct employer negligence liability claims.

However, in 2020, the Georgia Supreme Court, in Quynn v. Hulsey, et. al., 310 Ga. 473 (Ga. 2020), held that Georgia law requires "once liability has been established and the damages sustained by the plaintiff have been calculated, the trier of fact must then assess the relative fault of all those who contributed to the plaintiff's injury ' including the plaintiff himself ' and apportion the damages based on this assessment of relative fault." Thus, the Georgia Supreme Court surprisingly set a precedent that Georgia's Apportionment Statute, O.C.G.A. ' 51-12-33...