O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 34-7-44 (2019)

Employer exemptions from liability void; allowable setoffs

✓ O.C.G.A. (archive.org 2024 item): print volumes of 2004-2024, per-volume vintage; older volumes partly replaced by 2019 Release 73 text; no 2025 or 2026 Acts
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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Any contract, rule, regulation, or device whatsoever, the purpose or intent of which shall be to enable any common carrier by railroad to exempt itself from any liability created by Code Sections 34-7-41 through 34-7-43, shall, to that extent, be void; provided, however, that in any action brought against any such common carrier by railroad under or by virtue of any of such Code sections such common carrier may set off therein any sum it has contributed or paid to any insurance, relief, benefit, or indemnity that may have been paid to the injured employee or, in the event of death, to the person or persons entitled thereto on account of the injury or death for which said action is brought.

History

(Ga. L. 1909, p. 160, § 4; Civil Code 1910, § 2785; Code 1933, § 66-404.)

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Constitutionality of section. - Section did not violate U.S. Const., amend. 14. Washington v. Atlantic Coast Line R.R., 136 Ga. 638, 71 S.E. 1066, 38 L.R.A. (n.s.) 867 (1911).

Cited in Louisville & N.R.R. v. Bradford, 135 Ga. 522, 69 S.E. 870 (1910); Houser v. Savannah Elec. Co., 9 Ga. App. 766, 72 S.E. 276 (1911); Massee & Felton Lumber Co. v. Georgia & F. Ry., 12 Ga. App. 436, 77 S.E. 366 (1913).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d. - 32B Am. Jur. 2d, Federal Employers' Liability and Compensation Acts, §§ 8, 9.

ALR. - Independent contractor: remedial rights in respect of injuries caused by breaches of positive duties correlative to corporate franchises, 28 A.L.R. 122.

Right of setoff as between proceeds of life insurance and indebtedness of insured to insurer, 101 A.L.R. 1517.

Release or contract after injury as affected by provision of Federal Employers' Liability Act invalidating contract, rule, or device to exempt carrier from liability, 166 A.L.R. 648.

Validity, construction, and effect of agreement, in connection with real-estate lease or license by railroad, for exemption from liability or for indemnification by lessee or licensee, for consequences of railroad's own negligence, 14 A.L.R.3d 446.