Georgia Law Blog

On July 5, 2007, the Georgia Court of Appeals decided the case of Champion v. Pilgrim's Pride Corp. of Delaware, Inc. In this case, a worker was injured after being hit by a truck in the receiving area of the poultry plant. She later died from her injuries. A civil suit was brought against her employer. One of the issues in the case was whether Georgia's workers' compensation law applies. The law says that an injured worker has a valid work injury claim if the injury occurs when the worker ingresses and egresses from the place of work. In this case, the Georgia Court of Appeals decided that it is a jury question as to whether or not she could maintain a wrongful case against her employer. Specifically, the issue was whether she was acting within the scope of her employment when she was hit. The Georgia Court of Appeals was swayed by the fact that the deceased was hit at work 78 minutes before she started her shift.

This case adds an interested case to the large number of work injury cases dealing with whether an injury arises out of employment. Usually, the injured employee is seeking workers compensation benefits. In this case, the person who died in this horrible workplace accident brought a personal injury lawsuit so it was essential to get around the Exclusive Remedy Provision (O.C.G.A. 34-9-11).