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Saturday, Oct. 04, 2008

High court to hear Laurens trucking case

The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Monday challenging the ruling of a lower court in a Laurens County appeal.

The appeal centers on a dispute over an indemnity clause in a contract signed by a truck driver shortly before he was in a wreck. At issue is whether the state Court of Appeals was wrong to uphold a lower court's ruling that the indemnity provision is consistent with Georgia law.

Here's what happened in the case, according to a summary of facts from the Georgia Supreme Court:

Jerry Lee Coleman has been a truck driver for 25 years. For about five of those years, he worked as an independent contractor for B-H Transfer Co.

In January 2003, he and two other independent contractors, working for the same company, were driving on Interstate 75 after dropping off a load of kaolin in Charleston, S.C. Coleman's tractor-trailer was in the lead when traffic came to a sudden halt because of a wreck.

Coleman pulled to the left shoulder of the road to avoid slamming into the traffic.

The third truck hit the second one, which hit Coleman's, driving him into a tree.

Coleman sued B-H Transfer, the driver who hit him and others, seeking to recover for injuries and damage to his truck, which he owned and leased to the transfer company.

Just weeks before the wreck, Coleman had signed an agreement that stated: "Independent contractor hereby specifically releases and agrees to indemnify BHTC from any liability" that results from a collision of two vehicles, both of which are under contract to B-H Transfer.

The contract also stated: "If independent contractor desires any such insurance for his own protection or is dissatisfied with the type or amount of coverage provided by BHTC," he is free to get "additional insurance at his own expense."

After the trial court ruled against him, Coleman appealed to the Court of Appeals. After that court upheld the lower court's ruling, he asked the state Supreme Court to hear the case.

Coleman contends that the indemnity provision violates Georgia law which states that a contract "which is against the policy of the law cannot be enforced." He cites a state Supreme Court's decision earlier this year in which the court ruled that a similar clause designed to release an engineering firm from liability for its own negligence was against "public policy."

The company maintains that the provision releasing it from liability for injuries arising out of the contract is enforceable, unless it goes against public policy, and it does not in this case. Georgia law, consistent with federal regulations, requires motor carriers to maintain only liability insurance for the protection of the public, not for a driver-lessor, the company says.