How does a Georgia jury divide fault among several defendants in one lawsuit?

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When more than one defendant contributed to an injury, a Georgia jury assigns each a separate percentage of fault. The percentages reflect each defendant’s relative share of responsibility for the harm, and they add up across everyone the jury finds blameworthy. This allocation comes from O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, the apportionment statute.

Assigning percentages

The jury does not lump the defendants together. It looks at the conduct of each one and decides how much of the total fault belongs to that party. A defendant whose conduct was a major cause receives a larger percentage; one whose role was minor receives a smaller one. The plaintiff’s own fault, if any, is part of the same allocation, measured against the combined fault of the others.

In appropriate circumstances, the jury may also consider the fault of non-parties, meaning people or entities that contributed to the injury but were not named as defendants. Georgia’s statute allows fault to be apportioned to such non-parties, which can affect how the remaining shares fall among the named defendants.

Why the split matters

Dividing fault among defendants does more than describe blame. Under § 51-12-33, each defendant is generally responsible for paying the portion of damages that matches its own percentage of fault, rather than the entire award. Consequences include:

  • A defendant assigned a small percentage pays a correspondingly small portion of the damages.
  • A defendant assigned a large percentage bears more of the award.
  • A non-party’s allocated share generally is not collected from the named defendants, since that party is not before the court to pay.

This per-share approach replaced the older model in which one defendant could be forced to pay the whole judgment regardless of its relative fault.

The plaintiff’s position

Spreading fault among several defendants can help a plaintiff stay under the 50% bar, because the plaintiff’s percentage is compared to the total fault of everyone else. At the same time, it means the plaintiff may need to collect from multiple parties, each responsible for only its own share, and an uncollectible share against one defendant is not automatically picked up by the others.

The bottom line

A Georgia jury divides fault by giving each defendant its own percentage of responsibility, possibly including non-parties, with the shares totaling across all who contributed. Under § 51-12-33, those percentages drive how much each defendant pays, since responsibility is generally tied to each party’s own assigned share rather than to the judgment as a whole.

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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