How is fault handled when one defendant settles before a Georgia trial?

· 3 min read

When one defendant settles and the case continues against the others, the settling party usually does not vanish from the fault analysis. Georgia’s apportionment system can still place a percentage of blame on that former defendant, now treated as a non-party, so the jury allocates responsibility across everyone who contributed to the injury, not just those left in the courtroom.

The settling defendant becomes a non-party

O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33 directs the jury to assign fault by percentage among the parties and certain non-parties. A defendant who settles and is dismissed can be considered in that allocation, and the statute treats a person with whom the plaintiff has settled as available for the jury to weigh. The remaining defendants therefore answer only for their own assigned shares, while the slice attributed to the settled party reduces what they owe rather than being added to their bill.

This is a key point for plaintiffs: settling early with one party does not erase that party’s fault from the case. The jury can still hand it a percentage.

How the settlement and the verdict interact

The plaintiff keeps the settlement money and separately pursues a verdict against the remaining defendants, but the two are connected by the fault allocation. Several practical consequences follow:

  • The non-settling defendants pay only their percentages, so they do not cover the settled party’s share.
  • A larger fault percentage placed on the settled party means a smaller verdict against those who remain.
  • The plaintiff bears the risk that the empty chair of a settled defendant absorbs blame that might otherwise have stayed with collectible parties.

Because of this, the value of an early settlement has to be weighed against how much fault a jury might later assign to that same party.

Why the rule fits the apportionment model

Under a system where each defendant pays only its own share, it would be inconsistent to make the remaining defendants cover blame that truly belongs to someone who settled. Allowing the jury to allocate fault to the settled party keeps each remaining defendant responsible for no more than its own conduct, which is the core idea of several liability in Georgia.

The bottom line

A pretrial settlement by one defendant does not remove that party’s fault from a Georgia case. The jury can still assign it a percentage as a non-party, and the remaining defendants pay only their own shares. For the injured person, that makes the size and timing of any early settlement an important strategic decision, because fault placed on the settled party reduces the recovery available from those still in the case.

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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