At trial, Plaintiff requested and got a spoliation charge concerning portions of a video that MARTA failed to produce concerning a fall case. That evidentiary victory sowed the seeds to appellate defeat. The Georgia Court of Appeals reminded that “[p]rior to charging the jury on spoliation, the trial court must …
SCENARIO: $100,000 billed to Plaintiff for a surgery center “facility fee” where the provider accepts $10,000 for full payment. QUESTION: In seeking recovery for this medical bill, what amount should Plaintiff be able to “blackboard” to a jury? The inflated, billed amount ($100,000) that Plaintiff didn’t pay and isn’t responsible …
The Georgia Supreme Court just gave defendants in Georgia a big victory as related to rulings on Default for untimely answer. The former rule put a very heavy burden on the defendant which was quite difficult to overcome. The new rule makes the burden much less onerous, thereby affording a defendant a …
Last year, in Casemetrix LLC v. Sherpa Web Studios, Inc., the Georgia Court of Appeals struck down an OCGA § 9-11-68 attorney fee award. The Court made two central points. First, the statute applies “to resolution of tort claims only.” Id. And second, the offer must be unambiguous concerning resolution of tort claims only. …
In early April, the Eleventh Circuit found that qualified immunity does not shield jail guards from claims of deliberate indifference to serious medical needs of people in custody, after an Alabama man died from internal bleeding after being kept in a jail cell overnight. Conflicting accounts as to whether the …
In a recently decided opinion, Tyner v Matta-Troncoso, No. S18G0364, 2019 WL 1104684, (Ga. Mar. 11, 2019), the Supreme Court of Georgia held that an out-of-possession landlord could not be held liable for bodily injuries inflicted by a tenant’s pet under either O.C.G.A. § 51-2-7 or O.C.G.A. § 44-7-14. In Tyner, a …