Georgia: Exclusive Remedy Bars Wrongful Death Action by Non-Dependent Heir in Spite of Statute’s Refusal to Allow Payment of Comp Benefits

The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed a trial court’s order granting summary judgment to an employer in a wrongful death action filed by the mother of a deceased employee, agreeing that the exclusive remedy provisions of the Georgia Workers’ Compensation Act barred the civil action.  That the mother, who was not dependent upon her son, could not recover any workers’ compensation benefits did not dictate a different finding, indicated the court. Moreover, the Act’s limitation on the recovery of non-dependent heirs under O.C.G.A. § 34-9-265(b)(1) did not violate the mother’s constitutional rights to due process and equal protection.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers’ compensation.

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Barzey v. City of Cuthbert, 2014 Ga. LEXIS 710 (Sept. 22, 2014) [2014 Ga. LEXIS 710 (Sept. 22, 2014)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 100.05 [100.05]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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