Georgia Appeals Court Clarifies Law on Police Pursuit Case
Police pursuit cases unnecessarily claim many innocent lives and cause thousands of serious injuries every year. Until recently, the defendant police departments have made good faith arguments in court against liablity based on these premises:
1) Unless the police car intentionally touched the fleeing suspect's car, there can be no waiver of liability under Georgia Code Section OCGA 33-24-51 for negligence;
2) If the fleeing suspect causes a wreck after fleeing, the suspect's decision to flee rather than the police officer's decision to pursue the suspect is, by law, the cause of the wreck; and
3) Negligence and reckless disregard are completely different standards
of liability. If the Plaintiffs rely on the negligent use waiver under OCGA 33-24-51 discussed above, then the Plaintiff is precluded from establishing the requisite reckless disregard standard under Georgia Code Section OCGA 40-6-6(d).
The Georgia Court of Appeals addressed all of these arguments in McCobb v. Clayton County, 2011 WL 1348398, and ruled that none of these arguments are sound.
This is a great victory for justice and allows victims who are catastophically injured due to unwarranted and/or unsafe police pursuits to be able to pursue legal claims for their injuries.
