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Lucas v. Beckman Coulter Inc.

Employer was immune from firearm-related tort liability under O.C.G.A. § 16-11-135 subsection e 2, and the trial court properly granted its motion for summary judgment in plaintiff's suit arising after employee accidentally shot him with a personal handgun while on a service call for employer at plaintiff's place of employment.

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In this civil action, Claude Lucas sued Beckman Coulter, Inc. BCI and its employee, Jeremy Wilson, alleging that the defendants are liable for injuries he suffered when Wilson accidentally shot him with a handgun while on a service call for BCI at Lucas’s place of employment. Following discovery, BCI moved for summary judgment, which the trial court granted. On appeal, Lucas contends that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment, arguing that BCI is not immune in this instance from firearm-related tort liability under OCGA § 16-11-135 and that genuine issues of material fact remain as to whether BCI is liable for Wilson’s negligent conduct under theories of respondeat superior and negligent supervision. For the reasons set forth infra, we affirm.

Viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmovant,1 the record shows that BCI is a company based out of Southern California that develops, manufactures, markets, and services biomedical testing equipment for medical facilities. In furtherance of this business, BCI employs field-service engineers, whose responsibilities include traveling to BCI’s clients’ medical facilities, usually in a vehicle provided by BCI, and performing onsite maintenance and repair of BCI equipment. At the time of the incident giving rise to this case, Wilson had been employed as a field-service engineer for BCI since 1999, and serviced accounts in South Georgia, including the Albany area.

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