George v. Ashland-Warren, Inc., ASHLAND-WARRE
| Decision Date | 28 June 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 68576,INC,ASHLAND-WARRE,68576 |
| Citation | 171 Ga.App. 556,320 S.E.2d 586 |
| Parties | GEORGE v. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Claude R. Ross, Stephen M. Gibbs, Atlanta, for appellant.
Paul Webb, Jr., Philip S. Coe, Atlanta, for appellee.
The plaintiff appeals a summary judgment entered in favor of defendant Ashland-Warren, Inc., in a wrongful death action to recover for the death of her husband. The plaintiff's husband was struck and killed by a piece of earth-moving equipment while employed by the Georgia Department of Transportation as project engineer on a road construction project. Ashland-Warren had been retained by the DOT as the general contractor on the project and was the owner and operator of the earth-moving equipment. The DOT paid the plaintiff and her minor children $33,500 in worker's compensation benefits after the accident, and Ashland-Warren subsequently reimbursed the DOT for these benefits pursuant to an indemnification provision contained in the construction contract. Ashland-Warren contends that it is immune from tort liability for the death of the plaintiff's husband pursuant to OCGA § 34-9-11, both because of its discharge of its contractual obligation to indemnify the DOT for the worker's compensation benefits and because of its alleged status as an employee of the DOT. Held:
OCGA § 34-9-11 provides, in pertinent part, as follows: "The rights and the remedies granted to an employee by this chapter shall exclude all other rights and remedies of such employee, his personal representative, parents, dependents, or next of kin, at common law or otherwise, on account of such injury, loss of service, or death; provided, however, that no employee shall be deprived of any right to bring an action against any third-party tort-feasor, other than an employee of the same employer or any person who, pursuant to a contract or agreement with an employer, provides workers' compensation benefits to an injured employee..." (Emphasis supplied.)
Pretermitting whether Ashland-Warren was under a contractual obligation to provide worker's compensation benefits to the plaintiff as a result of her husband's death, we hold as a matter of law that the company is insulated from tort liability by virtue of the fact that, like the decedent, it was an employee of the DOT.
Whether or not an employer-employee relationship exists between a principal and a...
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Pogue v. Oglethorpe Power Corp.
...pretermitted the question of whether Ashland-Warren was entitled to immunity because it reimbursed the DOT. George v. Ashland-Warren, Inc., 171 Ga.App. 556, 320 S.E.2d 586 (1984).2 OCGA § 34-9-11(a) provides: "The rights and remedies granted to an employee by this chapter shall exclude all ......
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George v. Ashland-Warren, Inc.
...ruled that the provisions of OCGA § 34-9-11 afforded Ashland-Warren immunity as a co-employee of the deceased. George v. Ashland-Warren, 171 Ga.App. 556, 320 S.E.2d 586 (1984). We granted certiorari to determine whether Ashland-Warren is an "employee" within the meaning of OCGA § 1. OCGA § ......
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George v. Ashland-Warren, Inc., ASHLAND-WARRE
...decision in George v. Ashland-Warren, Inc., 254 Ga. 95, 326 S.E.2d 744 (1985), the decision of this court in George v. Ashland-Warren, Inc., 171 Ga.App. 556, 320 S.E.2d 586 (1984), is vacated and the judgment of the trial court is Judgment reversed. POPE and BENHAM, JJ., concur. ...