LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Legislative Update
[email protected]
By Gregory M. Taube
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP
T
he Georgia General Assembly began the current twoyear regular legislative session on January 2, 2013.
By the time this article is published in April 2013, the
first year of the session will have concluded. Each legislative
year lasts only 40 legislative days. As a general rule, only
bills that were passed by either the House or the Senate by
day 30 of legislative year can be enacted in that year. These
bills are described as having "crossed over" from one house
to the other, and thus, legislative day 30 is referred to as
"Crossover Day." This year, Crossover Day was March 8.
This article reports on some of the bills that passed either
the House or the Senate by Crossover Day and focuses in
particular on bills that should be of interest to local lawyers.
These bills include legislation affecting service of process
on corporations, premises liability with respect to injuries to
trespassers, and amendments to certain uniform state laws,
including Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, among
others. Readers interested in the status of any of these bills
can determine whether the bill ultimately was enacted by
searching on the General Assembly's website at http://www.
legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/Search.aspx.
Senate Bill 113
This bill would amend O.C.G.A. § 9-11-4 as it relates to
service of process on foreign and domestic corporations.
As amended, the bill would authorize service on a foreign
or domestic corporation by delivering a summons and a
copy of the complaint "to the president or other officer of
the corporation, or a managing agent thereof, provided that
when for any reason service cannot be had in such manner,
the Secretary of State shall be an agent of such corporation
or foreign corporation upon whom any process, notice, or
demand may be served. Significantly, the revised statute
would define the term "managing agent" as meaning an
employee of the corporation or foreign corporation who:
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Has express authority to accept service of process
on behalf of such corporation or foreign corporation;
Has authority to bind such corporation or foreign
corporation; or
THE ATLANTA LAWYER
April 2013
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Has operational or supervisory authority of a site
or facility in this state where such corporation or
foreign corporation conducts business.
Senate Bill 125
This bill would amend Article 1 of Chapter 3 of Title 51 of the
Georgia Code and relates to liability of owners and occupiers
of land. If this bill becomes law, landowners and tenants
will be provided a measure of protection from liability for
injuries suffered by trespassers. The bill provides that "[a]
lawful possessor of land owes no duty of care to a trespasser
except to refrain from causing a willful or wanton injury." The
bill includes an exception applicable to liability for death or
serious bodily harm to a child trespasser when the injury is
caused by an artificial condition on the land and the following
additional circumstances are present:
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The place where the artificial condition exists is one
upon which the possessor knows or has reason to
know that children are likely to trespass;
The children because of their youth do not discover
the artificial condition or realize the risk involved in
intermeddling with it or in coming within the area made
dangerous by it;
The utility to the possessor of maintaining the artificial
condition and the burden of eliminating the danger
were slight as compared with the risk to the children
involved; and
The possessor failed to exercise reasonable care
to eliminate the danger or otherwise protect such
children.
Senate Bill 185
This bill would amend Article 9 of Title 11 to adopt the 2010
amendments to UCC Article 9. For example, the bill would
require an individual debtor's name appearing on a financing
statement to match the debtor's Georgia driver's license if
the debtor has a Georgia driver's license. In addition to
adopting the 2010 amendments, enactment of SB 185 would
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