How does Georgia comparative negligence affect a claim against my business?

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Quick answer: Georgia uses modified comparative negligence and bars recovery once the person claiming is 50 percent or more at fault (O.C.G.A. 51-12-33). If a customer is found 50 percent responsible for their own injury, they recover nothing. Below that line, their award is reduced by their share of fault, which shapes how a third-party claim against your business is valued.

Georgia uses modified comparative negligence, a legal rule for dividing fault when more than one party contributed to an injury, and it bars a claimant from recovering anything once that claimant is found 50 percent or more at fault for their own injury. This rule, set out in O.C.G.A. 51-12-33, shapes how a general liability claim against a Georgia business gets valued.

If a customer is found 50 percent or more responsible for causing their own injury, Georgia law bars any recovery and the claim pays nothing. Below that threshold, the customer's award is reduced by their own percentage of fault. A customer found 20 percent at fault who would otherwise be owed $50,000 in damages recovers $40,000, a $10,000 reduction for their own share.

For example, a customer trips over a clearly marked wet floor sign while looking at a phone and is injured in a retail store. An insurance adjuster evaluating the claim assigns fault to both sides: some percentage to the store for the wet floor, some percentage to the customer for not watching where they were walking. If the customer is found 30 percent at fault, their recovery is reduced by 30 percent. If the customer is found 55 percent at fault, for looking at a phone instead of an obviously posted sign, Georgia law bars recovery entirely.

This is why comparative negligence matters for a business before a case ever reaches a jury. When an insurance carrier evaluates a general liability claim, described more broadly in General Liability Insurance for Small Business and in Georgia terms at Georgia General Liability Insurance, the adjuster is estimating how a Georgia jury would likely split fault, and that estimate drives settlement value.

Comparative negligence applies to claims from customers, vendors, and other third parties, meaning people outside the business itself. It does not apply to a business's own injured employees, who are handled through workers compensation rather than a fault-based claim; see Does general liability cover injuries to my own employees in Georgia? for that distinction.

A coverage review can confirm a business's general liability limits are sized for the kind of claims its operations tend to generate, since even a partially successful claim against a business still results in a payout below the 50 percent bar. General liability coverage is available through Olive Cover, working with a panel of carriers, for businesses in Georgia and Alabama; see the full carrier list.