This is the second appearance of this case in this court. In the first appearance, Lakeisha Hamilton-King and others appealed from the grant of summary judgment to an architectural engineering firm and general contractor based on the trial court’s determinations that expert testimony was inadmissible and that, without expert testimony to establish the standard of care and breach thereof, the evidence was insufficient to create an issue of material fact as to liability.1 We reversed the grant of summary judgment to the defendants, holding that the expert’s testimony should not have been excluded.2 On certiorari, the Supreme Court of Georgia held that the expert testimony was inadmissible, reversed this court’s decision and remanded the case for this court to determine whether a simple negligence claim remains and, if so, whether a genuine issue of material fact remains as to that claim.3 We hold that no simple negligence claim remains. Accordingly, we adopt the opinion of the Supreme Court and affirm the judgment of the trial court granting summary judgment to the defendants. Hamilton-King and her brothers collectively, the Hamiltons were involved in an automobile accident at night in a bridge construction zone on Interstate 95.4 The Hamiltons exited their vehicle and, shortly thereafter, were struck by another vehicle; the Hamiltons were injured, one fatally.5
Alleging that their injuries were caused wholly or in part by a lack of proper lighting and signage leading up to and in the construction area, the Hamiltons filed a negligence action against the architectural engineering firm that designed the construction project, HNTB Georgia, Inc., and the general contractor for the project, Plant Improvement Company, Inc. In their complaint, the Hamiltons alleged that HNTB had a duty to exercise reasonable care in drafting architectural plans for the project, and that it breached that duty by failing to call for proper lighting and proper signage in the area. As to Plant Improvement, the Hamiltons alleged that it had a duty to exercise reasonable care in properly implementing its contract with and specifications provided to it by the Georgia Department of Transportation DOT, “in accordance with generally accepted standards in effect at the time of construction”; and that it breached its duty by failing to implement proper lighting in and proper signage leading up to the work area, as required by the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices MUTCD.
