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Hernandez Auto Painting & Body Works Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Co.

The trial court erred in denying the defendants' motion to dismiss the plaintiff's claim for trade libel, as Georgia does not recognize such a tort.

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Hernandez Auto Painting and Body Works, Inc. “Hernandez Auto” sued State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and several of its employees collectively, “State Farm”, alleging in its complaint that State Farm steered individuals away from having repairs completed at Hernandez Auto, in violation of the Georgia Motor Vehicle Accident Reparations Act MVARA, OCGA § 33-34-6 a, b, and that, in doing so, State Farm committed “trade libel/injurious falsehood” hereinafter, “trade libel”. State Farm moved to dismiss the lawsuit for failure to state a claim based on the grounds that there was no private cause of action under the MVARA, and that Georgia law did not recognize the tort of trade libel. The trial court granted State Farm’s motion with respect to the MVARA claim, and it denied the motion with regard to the trade libel claim.1 In Case No. A11A0962, we granted State Farm’s application for an interlocutory appeal of the trial court’s denial of its motion to dismiss Hernandez Auto’s trade libel claim. We reverse because Georgia does not recognize the tort of trade libel.

In Case No. A11A0963, Hernandez Auto cross-appeals from the trial court’s grant of State Farm’s motion to dismiss the MVARA claim. We affirm because the MVARA does not provide a private cause of action.

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