This week, the Georgia Supreme Court denied a request to review a divided Georgia Court of Appeals decision with potentially far-reaching consequences for companies that do business in Georgia and rely on limitation-of-liability clauses in their customer contracts. Monitronics International v. Veasley, 746 S.E.2d 793, A13A0090 (Ga. Ct. App, July 16, 2013), cert. denied, Nov. 4, 2013 (S13C1727).
The Georgia Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari is somewhat surprising given the divided Court of Appeals decision and the importance of the issue. Nonetheless, a take-away from the various opinions of Court of Appeals seems to be that, to increase the chances of a limitation-of-liability clause being enforced, companies may want to consider having clauses that (1) have an explicit typeface and prominent location in the contract; and (2) have explicit language setting forth the specific claims (property damage versus personal injury; contract versus tort/negligence) they seek to limit. Companies with customer contracts containing limitation-of-liability clauses may want to review their contracts in light of these recent developments.
In Monitronics, the Georgia Court of Appeals upheld a $9 million jury verdict against an alarm company that had failed to properly...
