The recent losses for Georgia premises owners are piling up. On the heels of the Carmichael et al. decision from Georgia’s Supreme Court comes another disappointing ruling, albeit much smaller in scope. This time, the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment and instead found …
Opening the Flood Gates to More Condition-Laden Holt Demands In Simmons v. Bates (January 13, 2023), the Georgia Court of Appeals noted the settlement offer “was 39 pages long and contained 30 footnotes” and expressed “…concern that this lengthy and unnecessarily convoluted offer appears to be intentionally difficult to accept…” In …
The Georgia Supreme Court recently reinterpreted Georgia negligent security law by effectively narrowing the scope of when an Motion for Summary Judgement is viable for a premises owner, a decision that will very likely have a similar adverse impact related to security and property management companies (GEORGIA CVS PHARMACY, LLC …
In Simmons v. Bates, the issue before the Court concerned whether a binding settlement agreement had been formed, not whether a valid bad faith failure to settle claim existed against the insurer. But, in deciding the former, did the opinion provide helpful insights concerning the latter? The opinion noted that …
Candice Bryant and Robb Cruser won summary judgment, with the U.S. District Court finding, “A person exercising ordinary care would have knowledge of the existence of a wet floor in the proximity had they observed an employee mopping and a mop bucket, putting aside the issue of whether Plaintiff saw …
Taylor v. Devereux Foundation, Inc. et al. (3/15/23) by Charles Jones The Georgia Supreme Court recently upheld OCGA § 51-12-5.1(g), Georgia’s statutory cap on punitive damages. Punitive damages are different from the standard compensatory damages because they are awarded for the purpose of punishing or deterring the defendant rather than …