What is Breach of Duty in Georgia?

Negligence per se relates to the standard of care that individuals owe to other individuals in daily life. Everyone has a duty to comply with the law or, if someone is injured as a result of their actions, they can be held liable if:

• The injured plaintiff falls within the class of persons the statute is intended to protect; and
• The harm suffered is the type the statute was designed to protect against.

For example, drivers on the roads in Georgia have a duty of care to other road users. If a car driver runs a red light and hits a pedestrian who is crossing at the time, injuring that person, a jury can find the car driver liable for the injuries.

The road laws are designed specifically to prevent this type of injury to other road users, so negligence per se may be applied in this case.

The following examples also feature laws designed to protect people, allowing a defendant who breaches their duty by not following the law to be held liable:

• A dog bite injury that results from an owner allowing a dog to roam free in a park where there is a rule is that dogs must be on leashes.
• A speeding driver who causes a collision with another motorist.
• An employer who fails to follow an OSHA safety rule.

Under Georgia law, the normal standard of negligence is “that degree of care which is exercised by ordinarily prudent persons under the same or similar circumstances.”

So, for a successful ordinary negligence claim, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant breached their duty of care by failing to act as a reasonable person would have done under the same circumstances. 

An example is a restaurant where a waiter drops a plate of food. The food is cleaned up and the floor washed but no sign is displayed to warn customers of the wet and slippery floor.

If a customer then slips and falls, breaking a leg, the restaurant owner may have to answer an ordinary negligence claim for breach of duty of care. Ordinarily, a sign should be displayed to warn customers of a hazard. A jury might, therefore, find the restaurant owner in breach of their duty to maintain safe premises.

Professional negligence is a different standard from ordinary negligence, applied when a professional provides a service to other individuals.

Doctors, lawyers, and accountants, for instance, are held to higher standards than in ordinary negligence cases. They are held to a level of care that would be exercised by other competent professionals under similar circumstances. 

A good example would be a patient visiting a hospital to have surgery on his left knee due to a problem with arthritis. During the operation, the surgeon replaces the right knee instead of the left one.

Under professional negligence laws, another competent professional would not normally make this basic mistake, so the surgeon/hospital could be held liable for negligence and damages.

Under Georgia law, “common carriers” are people or companies who transport passengers or goods.

They are bound to “use extraordinary diligence” in their professional roles and are, therefore, held to a higher standard of negligence than in ordinary situations.