By Andrew Feske Historically, the defense of contributory negligence was unavailable to defendants in products liability cases involving strict liability claims, however, recent case law has re-analyzed this issue in the context of Georgia’s apportionment statute....
McMickle, Kurey and Branch, LLP Blog
So-Called “Treating Physicians” and The Catch-22 of Rule 26(a)(2)
Federal Rule 26(a)(2) is familiar to many litigators as the rule governing expert witness disclosures. The rule has two important subparts: Rule 26(a)(2)(B) (the "classic" expert witness disclosure rule), and Rule 26(a)(2)(C) (the "abrogated" expert witness disclosure...
Georgia Supreme Court rejects assertion that third-party bad faith can be created without a valid settlement offer.
Until recently, the question of when an insurer's duty to settle arose under Georgia law was up for debate. See U.S. Kingsley v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 353 F.Supp.2d 1242, 1249 (N. D. Ga. Jan. 31, 2005) (recognizing that Georgia law "is unsettled whether a...
Time is Not on Your Side After an Accident: the Value of Counsel
A common, but mistaken, belief is that the investigation of a serious wreck will be adequately handled by the police or their insurer. However, police resources are often stretched very thin. Even when police have sufficient time and resources to investigate an...
Obduskey, Reese, the FDCPA, and Nonjudicial Foreclosures in Georgia
In Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, 139 S. Ct. 1029, 203 L. Ed. 2d 390 (2019) the United States Supreme Court held that a business, including a law firm, engaged in the enforcement of a security interest through nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings was not a...
Strict Statutory Liability for Motor Carriers in Georgia: The P.N. Express Decision and Recent Developments Under Federal Leasing Regulations
In the realm of trucking litigation, practitioners are often confronted with the issue of "statutory employment" or "logo/lease liability." These terms relate to claims against motor carriers and the interpretation by various federal and state courts of the Federal...
DISTRACTED DRIVING – CELL PHONE USE
Increasingly, a cause of automobile accidents is a driver's use of a cellphone. While this has been a major problem for many years, the Georgia legislature recently attempted to minimize a driver's use of a cellphone by passing a new law - O.C.G.A. § 40-6-241....
Have You Got the Time Right?
Recently, the Supreme Court of Georgia came down with another important ruling in the long line of "bad faith" cases in Georgia. In this most recent case, First Acceptance Insurance Company of Georgia, Inc. v. Hughes, S180517, the Court asked the parties to address...
Premises Liability: Important Differences between Business Owners and Out-of-Possession Landlords
Georgia's primary premises liability statute is O.C.G.A. § 51-3-1, which requires the "owner or occupier" of land to keep his premises and approaches safe for those he "induces or leads" to come onto the property. These people are termed "invitees" and they are...
Do You Have It Covered? – Handling Policy Limits Demands for Less than All Claimants Releasing Less than All Insureds
It's 4:45 on Friday afternoon. You're going to finish up one last claim note and sprint out of the office toward your weekend with no further thoughts of claims until the 10:00 p.m. Sunday-evening-dread sets in. You are seconds away from hitting "Enter" on your claim...