On March 6, 2020, the Georgia Court of Appeals found that the exclusive remedy provision of the Workers' Compensation Act barred a truck driver’s personal injury action against a trucking company for which she alleged she provided services as an independent contractor, after she was injured in an accident that occurred when she was in the sleeping compartment of tractor trailer and her husband was driving. Estes v. G&W Carriers, LLC, No. A19A2385, 2020 WL 1074056 (Ga. Ct. App

On March 13, 2020, the court addressed the question of whether a residential rehabilitation facility owed a duty to a program participant who was sexually assaulted after leaving the facility for a job assignment where employment was a required part of the rehabilitation program. Plaintiff, who had agreed to the rehabilitation program as part of a diversion program to avoid jail time, had missed her bus to work and, instead of waiting for the next bus, walked to a convenienc

The Georgia Court of Appeals upheld the grant of summary judgment to a homeowners association and a management company in Ermert v. Wildwood at Meadow Gate Homeowners Association, Inc., --- S.E.2d ----, 2020 WL 946116 (2020). In September 2016, Ermert was walking in a common area near a pond, when she stepped in a hole and fractured her foot. Ermert brought suit against the homeowners association and the management company, claiming a failure to keep the premises safe. With

The Georgia Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s denial of partial summary judgment and motion for directed verdict related to punitive damages in the recent decision of Jones v. Bebee, --S.E. 2d ---, 2020 WL 771117 (2020). The Court noted that the entry of the judgment at trial, mooted the motion for summary judgment filed by the Joneses and only addressed the denial of the motion for directed verdict. Bebee, a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier, delivered a package to the