You might do some things every day that qualify as benign negligence—forgetting to brush your teeth, tripping over your kid’s Legos, or taking a little more than an hour for your lunch break at work. Those actions don’t break any laws and don’t cause anyone harm but yourself. Harm might be a harsh word here—annoyances or inconveniences may be more apt.
Being negligent, as far as Georgia law is concerned, can mean many things, but it doesn’t include the things we just mentioned. Negligence can come into play when you fail to act reasonably and cause someone else to suffer harm or losses. As a result of those losses, victims or their loved ones may have a valid personal injury case in which they can recover compensation.
Below, we’ll explain negligence in Georgia law and cover how it can result in claims or lawsuits.
Negligence, broadly defined, is the failure to exercise ordinary diligence. It can include doing something that a reasonable person would not do or, on the contrary, not doing something a reasonable person would do if they were in the same circumstances. Ordinary diligence and what that looks like depends on the circumstances you were in. Georgia law requires that a reasonable person would act with ordinary care and diligence to avoid foreseeable harm to others.
One of the most common examples of negligence is the failure to operate a car or vehicle in a safe manner. A substantial percentage of adults in Georgia have driver’s licenses; in exchange for driving privileges, licensed drivers agree to not drive negligently. Examples of negligent driving might include:
Other real-life examples of negligence can include:
Negligence often leads to injuries and other types of losses (damages) that can give rise to a claim or lawsuit. The main purpose of claims or lawsuits in personal injury cases, at least for plaintiffs, is to recover damages so they can be restored to the same or similar position they were prior to the act of negligence.
Injuries that can result from acts of negligence may include:
Seeking compensation for medical bills is common in many negligence cases, but that’s far from the only type of damages available to plaintiffs. Damages in Georgia fall into one of three classifications:
Additionally, the victim’s partner might suffer due to loss of companionship. Despite these damages being intangible and difficult to quantify, they are no less real to the victim and their loved ones.
Every successful negligence case in Georgia results from the claimant or plaintiff proving four elements. These four elements are:
In negligence cases, the duty of care requires a defendant to behave reasonably under the circumstances to prevent foreseeable harm to potential victims. An injured plaintiff who can show that the defendant fell short of this duty is well on their way to proving their negligence claim.
To clarify, no-fault states require injured parties to go through their own insurance regardless of who is at fault for the accident. So, does Georgia have a no-fault law? No—Georgia does not have a no-fault law, and it is not a no-fault state when it comes to personal injury and negligence claims. Georgia is an at-fault state, meaning the party responsible for damages is financially liable if the victim pursues a claim or lawsuit. In many cases, insurance policies can help defendants with financial liability.
Georgia is not just an at-fault state; more specifically, it uses a modified comparative negligence system in civil cases. Under modified comparative negligence, a plaintiff is unable to recover damages if they are at least 50 percent at fault for an accident.
If more than two parties are at fault, you can still recover if your percentage of fault is less than the total percentage of fault incurred by all other parties. The amount you recover in court will be reduced by the percentage you were found to be at fault. Below is an example of Georgia’s modified comparative negligence doctrine in action.
Let’s say you are behind another driver on a two-lane road with a speed limit of 45 mph. Inexplicably and without any prior indication, the driver in front of you slams on their brakes. Your car’s front end collides with the back of their car, and you suffer damages totaling $30,000.
Slamming on the brakes while on a shared roadway is a clear example of negligence. However, the post-crash investigation by the other driver’s insurance company reveals that you were following at an unsafe distance. In other words, you were tailgating. Furthermore, you were traveling at 49 mph—four miles per hour over the speed limit.
After some negotiating, you and the other driver agree on fault allocation. You are determined to be 20 percent at fault, and the other driver is 80 percent at fault. You can still recover damages, but only 80 percent of the $30,000 you suffered altogether. So, you ultimately get $24,000.
It could be worse, though, as a judge or jury might have determined that you and the other driver shared 50/50 responsibility for the accident. In that situation, you would have missed out on getting any compensation.
Occasionally, it’s abundantly clear that one driver was completely responsible for a car accident or other accident involving negligence. Frequently, though, each party shares at least a little bit of the blame.
An insurance adjuster’s investigation of an accident is the first step in determining fault allocation in many Georgia negligence cases. Insurance companies do not want to pay if one of their policyholders did not cause a covered loss, so they are usually eager to find out exactly what happened.
After the adjuster finishes the investigation, the insurance company may extend an offer to the victim based on the level of liability they think their policyholder incurred for the accident. If the victim does not think the offer is fair, the two parties will probably do some negotiating.
If negotiations do not produce a settlement, the claimant might file a lawsuit. Negotiations can continue during the personal injury trial, but some cases go all the way to the verdict phase. In those cases, a judge or jury will decide each party’s percentage of fault and the amount of damages, if any, the victim should receive.
The statute of limitations for most Georgia negligence cases involving personal injury is two years. That means victims have two years from the date of the accident to file a lawsuit. Family members generally have two years from the date of their loved one’s death to file a wrongful death claim.
Medical malpractice presents a few wrinkles to this two-year rule. In some cases, the injury or illness caused by medical malpractice may not be apparent the moment the negligent action occurred. Georgia law allows plaintiffs to file a lawsuit two years from the date they discovered (or should have reasonably discovered) the condition resulting from medical malpractice as long as it is within five years from the negligent action. This five-year rule is a statute of repose. Unlike a statute of limitations, it requires that a personal injury lawsuit be filed within five years from the date of the negligent act, regardless of when the injury was discovered.
There are some further exceptions to this five-year statute of repose, including for minor victims and foreign objects left in bodies after surgery. However, both the five-year statute of repose and the two-year statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases in Georgia necessitate swift action for plaintiffs.
The countless nuances of the legal system are nearly impossible to understand without a solid legal background. Attorneys deal with these nuances every day—it’s their job, and they have a duty to represent clients zealously in and out of court.
Furthermore, lawyers can help you gather evidence, negotiate with the other party, and set up the strongest case possible if your personal injury case goes to trial. You deserve caring and skilled legal counsel after suffering a serious injury due to someone else’s negligence.
Thompson Law takes personal injury and negligence cases on a contingency basis. Contingency cases mean that attorneys do not get paid anything unless they also recover money for their client. As a result, our firm does not charge anything for initial consultations.
If you think there’s even the slightest chance that you have a valid negligence case, you should strongly consider calling a Georgia personal injury law firm. Thompson Law has recovered more than $1.9 billion for clients thus far, and we take our jobs extremely seriously.
Please call us at 866-293-4768 or message us online to set up your consultation today.
Thompson Law charges NO FEES unless we obtain a settlement for your case. We have put over $1.9 billion in cash settlements into our clients’ pockets.
Contact us today for a free, no obligation consultation to discuss your accident, get answers to your questions, and understand your legal options. State law limits the time you have to file a claim after an injury accident, so call today.
