Today, in the case of Quinn v. Hulsey, et al., the Georgia Supreme Court held that Georgia’s Apportionment Statute, O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, abrogated, what the Court called the “Respondeat Superior Rule”:
If a defendant employer concedes that it will be vicariously liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior if its employee is found negligent, the employer is entitled to summary judgment on the plaintiff’s claims for negligent entrustment, hiring, training, supervision, and retention, unless the plaintiff has also brought a valid claim for punitive damages against the employer for its own independent negligence.
The Georgia Supreme Court reasoned that the language of Georgia’s Apportionment Statute requires a jury to apportion fault between the multiple parties and that a plaintiff’s claims for negligent entrustment, hiring, training, supervision and retention are controlled by apportionment and survive summary judgment for an apportionment of liability by the jury even where the employer admits the employee was in the course and scope of her employment.
