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Ga. CVS Pharm., LLCv.Carmichael

CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
Docket No.S22G0527, S22G0617, S22G0618
DecidedJune 29, 2023
Reporter316 Ga. 718; 890 S.E.2d 209; 2023 Ga. LEXIS 141; 2023 WL 4247591
JudgesBethel, J., delivered the opinion; all Justices concurred except McMillian and LaGrua, JJ., who concurred specially in Division II. McMillian, J., specially concurred (joined by LaGrua, J.); LaGrua, J., concurred separately (joined by McMillian and Colvin, JJ.); Pinson, J., concurred separately (joined by Bethel, J.). Boggs, C. J., did not participate; Peterson, P. J., was disqualified.
Tags
CivilPremises LiabilityThird-Party Criminal ConductNegligent SecurityForeseeabilitySecurity ContractorsCertiorari ReviewTales From the CryptThe System
Case Summary

These consolidated appeals concern third-party crimes on business property. Georgia’s premises statute imposes on proprietors a duty to protect invitees from reasonably foreseeable crimes. Foreseeability turns on all relevant circumstances: similar prior crimes are probative but not required, and ordinarily the jury decides unless no rational juror could find for the plaintiff. At CVS, a customer was shot in a parking-lot robbery; the jury assigned 95 percent fault to CVS, 5 percent to the customer, and none to the shooter. Because instructions required apportionment of negligence, the Court affirmed: an intentional shooter may be non-negligent. At Pappas, a parking-lot shooting killed Anthony Welch; evidence of prior break-ins and nearby armed crimes raised a jury question. The Court reversed the no-foreseeability ruling and remanded. In Welch’s related case against security contractor Tactical, the Court held a contractor may owe a tort duty under Restatement § 324A for negligent performance of voluntarily undertaken security services; it vacated and remanded. McMillian, joined by LaGrua, objected to the broader foreseeability rule. LaGrua separately raised policy concerns, while Pinson emphasized the narrow apportionment holding.

Opinion

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