The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday declined to strike down a key provision of the state's tort reform law that divvies up damage awards to plaintiffs in liability cases.
The ruling was welcomed by property owners who have complained they have had to pay more than their fair share in cases involving attacks of people on their premises. Plaintiffs' lawyers have argued the law will stymie victims from being fully compensated for their injuries.
The court issued its opinion in a case brought by a man who was attacked, abducted and robbed by unknown assailants in August 2009 at a Red Roof Inns hotel in Atlanta. Nairobi Couch, the victim, had sued the hotel's owners for failing to keep their premises safe and provide adequate security.
By a 5-2 vote, the state Supreme Court said that a jury, when deciding on an award of damages to Couch, can consider the fault of Couch's assailants and apportion the amount of the damages based on the percentage of all those responsible for the attack. The court also said a jury can receive a special verdict form requiring it to decide how much the hotel and the assailants should pay, should the jury find them liable.
Couch's lawsuit is pending in federal court in Atlanta. Before the case went to trial, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones asked the state Supreme Court for its interpretation of this provision of the 2005 tort reform law.
Justice Harold Melton, writing for the court's majority, said the law "makes all persons responsible according to their respective percentages of responsibility."
One of Couch's lawyers, Andrew Rogers, expressed disappointment with the ruling.
"This appears to allow property owners who fail to prevent crime, who fail to keep their property in repair or who have dangerous employees to escape responsibility," he said. "It allows a jury to compare the negligent conduct of the property owner to the conduct of the criminal they failed to keep off their property. This negligently impacts innocent crime victims."
Jake Daly, a member of the Georgia Defense Lawyers Association, said Georgia and a number of other states across the country have enacted similar laws in recent years.
"There's been a clear trend for defendants to be held responsible only for their own wrongful conduct and not for the conduct of someone else over which they had no control," he said. "The people who commit these kinds of crimes obviously aren't acting at the behest of the hotel or apartment managers."
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