## Facts

- Carmen McReynolds’s vehicle struck a GM Trailblazer in which Lisa Krebs was a passenger, causing the Trailblazer to roll into a ditch and seriously injuring Krebs.
- Krebs sued McReynolds for negligence and sued General Motors (GM) on crashworthiness/product-defect theories.
- Krebs later settled her claims against GM for an undisclosed amount.
- McReynolds filed cross-claims against GM seeking contribution and set-off.
- Before trial, Krebs offered to settle with McReynolds for $25,000; McReynolds’s insurer responded it would pay $25,000 and asked to discuss resolving medical liens “as part of this settlement.”
- Krebs disputed that the insurer’s response created a binding settlement.

## Issues

1. Whether OCGA § 51-12-33 requires the trier of fact to apportion damages among multiple defendants even when the plaintiff is not at fault, thereby displacing cross-claims for contribution and set-off.
2. Whether the insurer’s response to a $25,000 settlement demand was an unconditional acceptance forming a binding settlement, or a counteroffer due to a proposed lien-resolution condition.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed.
- The court held OCGA § 51-12-33 requires apportionment among liable persons in actions against more than one defendant, even when the plaintiff bears no fault.
- The court upheld dismissal of McReynolds’s cross-claims for contribution and set-off against GM because the statute replaced those mechanisms with apportionment.
- The court held the insurer’s response was not an unconditional acceptance because it added a material condition regarding lien resolution, making it a counteroffer.
- Because no settlement was formed, the trial court properly denied summary judgment to McReynolds; the jury verdict and judgment for Krebs ($1,246,000.42) stood.

## Legal Principles

- Under OCGA § 51-12-33(b), when an action is brought against more than one person, the trier of fact must apportion damages among liable persons according to each person’s percentage of fault, regardless of whether the plaintiff is at fault.
- The 2005 amendments to OCGA § 51-12-33 abolished joint and several liability in covered cases and displaced traditional contribution and set-off between defendants with statutory apportionment.
- A binding settlement requires an acceptance that is unconditional and unequivocal; an acceptance that adds a material term or condition operates as a counteroffer and prevents contract formation.

## Conclusion

The court confirmed that Georgia’s apportionment statute applies in multi-defendant cases even when the plaintiff is fault-free and that defendants cannot preserve contribution or set-off through cross-claims in such actions; it also held no settlement arose where the purported acceptance introduced a lien-resolution condition, making it a counteroffer.


McReynolds v. Krebs, 290 Ga. 850, 725 S.E.2d 584 (Ga. 2012)