How does a Georgia jury actually allocate the percentages of fault on the verdict form?

· 3 min read

The verdict form turns the jury’s judgment into a set of numbers that must add up to 100 percent. After hearing the evidence, the jurors record how much fault belongs to each party, and in many cases to a non-party, in the order the form directs. That sequence is not just paperwork; it determines whether and how much the injured person recovers.

Filling in the percentages

Georgia juries work from a special verdict form built around O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33. The form typically asks the jury to find the total damages first, then to assign a fault percentage to the plaintiff, to each defendant, and to any non-party the court has allowed into the case. All the percentages together must equal 100. The court’s instructions explain that the jury should base each figure on the evidence about what each person did and how much that conduct contributed to the injury.

There is no scientific scale for this. Jurors compare the conduct of everyone involved and assign relative shares that reflect their collective sense of responsibility.

How the numbers become a recovery

Once the percentages are set, the math follows the statute:

  • The percentage written next to the plaintiff is subtracted from that plaintiff’s total damages.
  • A plaintiff figure of 50% or higher zeroes out the recovery completely.
  • Each defendant pays an amount matching its own assigned percentage, not the whole judgment.
  • A percentage placed on a non-party reduces the defendants’ shares but is not collectible from the absent person.

So a finding of, say, 20% on the plaintiff trims the award by a fifth, while the remaining blame is split among the defendants and any non-party according to their figures.

Why the order on the form matters

The structure of the form guides the jury through a logical path: damages, then fault, then the allocation among everyone responsible. Deciding total damages before assigning fault keeps the jury from letting one decision distort the other, and listing each party separately forces a deliberate judgment about every actor rather than a single lumped estimate. A well-drafted form also makes the verdict easier to apply and review afterward.

The bottom line

A Georgia jury allocates fault by writing a percentage next to each responsible party and non-party on the verdict form, with the figures totaling 100. Those numbers then drive the outcome under the apportionment statute: reducing the plaintiff’s recovery by the plaintiff’s share, barring it at 50% or more, and limiting each defendant to its own portion of the damages.

This article is for general educational and informational purposes only and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship, and Georgia law may change. For advice about a specific situation, consult a licensed Georgia personal injury attorney.

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