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

O.C.G.A. § 51-11-3 (2019)

Extenuation and mitigation of damages

✓ 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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Circumstances not amounting to justification may be pleaded in extenuation and mitigation of damages.

History

(Orig. Code 1863, § 2984; Code 1868, § 2997; Code 1873, § 3052; Code 1882, § 3052; Civil Code 1895, § 3892; Civil Code 1910, § 4489; Code 1933, § 105-1802.)

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

This section applies when matter pled is not sufficient justification. Conley v. Arnold, 93 Ga. 823, 20 S.E. 762 (1894).

Conduct not amounting to justification for assault and battery may be pled and proved in extenuation and mitigation of damages. Robinson v. De Vaughn, 59 Ga. App. 37, 200 S.E. 213 (1938); Smith v. Davis, 76 Ga. App. 154, 45 S.E.2d 237 (1947).

When there has been a breach of a duty giving rise to a cause of action, and the injured party claims punitive damages, all the surrounding circumstances accompanying the breach of duty may be given in evidence to the jury. Smith v. Davis, 76 Ga. App. 154, 45 S.E.2d 237 (1947).

Opprobrious words as mitigation of assault. - Whether opprobrious words are sufficient to justify an assault or are to be the basis of a mitigation of damages is a question for the jury. Thompson v. Shelverton, 131 Ga. 714, 63 S.E. 220 (1908).

Jury to consider testimony in mitigation of damages. - When the defendant has introduced testimony tending to sustain a plea of justification, though it fails to make it out, the jury may take such testimony into consideration in mitigation of damages. Ransone v. Christian, 49 Ga. 491 (1873); Henderson v. Fox, 80 Ga. 479, 6 S.E. 164 (1888); Ivester v. Coe, 33 Ga. App. 620, 127 S.E. 790 (1925); Hutcheson v. Browning, 34 Ga. App. 276, 129 S.E. 125 (1925).

Cited in McDaniel v. Atlanta Coca-Cola Bottling Co., 60 Ga. App. 92, 2 S.E.2d 810 (1939); Southeastern Greyhound Lines v. Hancock, 71 Ga. App. 471, 31 S.E.2d 59 (1944); Smith v. Cole, 96 Ga. App. 300, 99 S.E.2d 907 (1957); Pennsylvania Thresherman & Farmers Mut. Cas. Ins. Co. v. Gardner, 107 Ga. App. 472, 130 S.E.2d 507 (1963); Shepard v. Morrison, 121 Ga. App. 762, 175 S.E.2d 407 (1970); Johnson v. Jackson, 140 Ga. App. 252, 230 S.E.2d 756 (1976); Baker v. Wilson, 143 Ga. App. 488, 238 S.E.2d 587 (1977).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d. - 74 Am. Jur. 2d, Torts, § 49 et seq.

C.J.S. - 25 C.J.S., Damages, § 184 et seq.

ALR. - Duty to mitigate damages, 81 A.L.R. 282.

Presumption and burden of proof regarding mitigation of damages, 134 A.L.R. 242.

Pleading last clear chance doctrine, 25 A.L.R.2d 254.

Pleading matter in mitigation of damages in tort action other than libel and slander, 75 A.L.R.2d 473.

Nonuse of seat belts as failure to mitigate damages, 80 A.L.R.3d 1025.

Assault: Criminal liability as barring or mitigating recovery of punitive damages, 98 A.L.R.3d 870.