Bridges Farms, Inc. v. Blue
| Decision Date | 17 February 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. S96G1658,S96G1658 |
| Citation | 267 Ga. 505,480 S.E.2d 598 |
| Parties | , 97 FCDR 523 BRIDGES FARMS, INC. v. BLUE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
John T. Croley, Jr., Fitzgerald, for Bridges Farms, Inc.
John Dunlap Varnell, Albany, for Blue.
Scott Blue brought suit, seeking to recover for personal injuries he sustained while on property owned by Bridges Farms, Inc. (Farms). The jury returned a general verdict for Blue, and Farms appealed to the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals held that the trial court erred in giving a charge on future medical expenses. Bridges Farm, Inc. v. Blue, 221 Ga.App. 773, 774(1), 472 S.E.2d 465 (1996). Concluding that this error related only to damages and not to liability, however, the Court of Appeals " Bridges Farm, Inc., supra at 775(1), 472 S.E.2d 465. We granted certiorari and stated the issue to be addressed as:
Where a general verdict is returned in favor of plaintiff in a trial of a personal injury action, at which trial evidence of plaintiff's comparative negligence was introduced and a charge thereon given, does the reversal by the appellate court on the basis that the trial court erred in instructing on future medical expenses require a new trial as to liability and damages or a new trial only as to the amount of damages?
Georgia does not adhere to the common-law principle of contributory negligence whereby any negligence whatsoever on the part of the plaintiff bars his recovery, but Lassiter v. Poss, 85 Ga.App. 785, 789(1), 70 S.E.2d 411 (1952). Under the comparative-negligence doctrine of this state, a plaintiff whose negligence is less than that of the defendant Union Camp Corp. v. Helmy, 258 Ga. 263, 267, 367 S.E.2d 796 (1988). "However, where the negligence of the plaintiff and the defendant are equal, or the negligence of the plaintiff is more than that of the defendant, the plaintiff could not recover." McDowall Trans. Inc. v. Gault, 80 Ga.App. 445, 447, 56 S.E.2d 161 (1949).
Accordingly, in a comparative-negligence case, the recovery of damages and the liability of the defendant are issues which are "inextricably joined." Thomas v. Clark, 188 Ga.App. 606, 608(1), 373 S.E.2d 668 (1988). The negligent defendant's liability for damages is dependent upon the extent of the negligence of the plaintiff. If the negligence of the plaintiff equals or exceeds that of the defendant, the defendant is not liable to that negligent plaintiff. It follows that reversal of the judgment entered on a general verdict returned for the plaintiff in a case...
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...damages only is impermissible." Head v. CSX Transp., Inc. , 271 Ga. 670, 672 (4), 524 S.E.2d 215 (1999) (citing Bridges Farms, Inc. v. Blue , 267 Ga. 505, 480 S.E.2d 598 (1997) ) (emphasis added). Assuming without deciding that this categorical rule continues to apply in comparative neglige......
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...reduced but not eliminated unless the plaintiff's fault is the same as or greater than that of the defendant(s). Bridges Farms v. Blue , 267 Ga. 505, 505, 480 S.E.2d 598 (1997). The parties make no argument that we should draw a distinction between the "contributory negligence" discussed in......
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