Publication Date
2009
Abstract
Since 1987, joint liability has been unavailable to plaintiffs in Georgia who are to some degree at fault for their injury, but plaintiffs who are not at fault can pursue joint liability as an option for recovering damage awards. When Senate Bill 3 became law in February2005, sources reported widely that joint and several liability had been abolished for all tort cases in Georgia. The text of the 2005 amendments, however, does not explicitly state that joint liability has been abolished. Instead, as this Note demonstrates, the amended statutes are subject to at least two possible interpretations,and furthermore, no Georgia appellate court has yet decided the effect of the amendments on joint liability. Using methods of statutory interpretation, this Note concludes that a Georgia court should find that joint liability is still availablefor plaintiffs who are not at fault.
Recommended Citation
Boness, Emily R.
(2009)
"The Effect (Or Noneffect) of the 2005 Amendments to O.C.G.A. Sections 51-12-31 and 51-12-33 on Joint Liability in Georgia,"
Georgia Law Review: Vol. 44:
No.
1, Article 5.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/glr/vol44/iss1/5