Hamilton-King v. HNTB Ga. Inc.

The trial court erred in excluding the plaintiffs' expert's testimony in a negligence case involving an accident, which occurred on a bridge that was undergoing a widening project on which the defendants were the general contractor and the designer of certain aspects of the project.

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Lakeisha Nicole Hamilton-King and her two brothers were injured when the car in which they were traveling became disabled, and they then exited the car and were hit by a van. The collision occurred on a bridge over the Little Satilla River where a bridge-widening project was ongoing. Hamilton-King, individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Johnny Hamilton, Jr., and Justin Hamilton brought this negligence action against HNTB Georgia, Inc., the designer of certain aspects of the bridge-widening project, and Plant Improvement Company, Inc. d/b/a Seaboard Construction Company, the general contractor on the project. HNTB and Seaboard filed motions to exclude the Hamiltons’ expert witness, Jerome Thomas, and motions for summary judgment. The trial court granted the motions to exclude Thomas’s testimony. The court then determined that the negligence claims could not be established without expert testimony and therefore granted both motions for summary judgment. The Hamiltons appeal the grant of all four motions. Because we conclude that the trial court abused its discretion by excluding Thomas’s testimony, which was the sole basis for granting the summary judgment motions, we reverse.

Plant Improvement Company contracted with the Georgia Department of Transportation DOT1 to perform construction work along I-95, including the Little Satilla bridge. Seaboard, a division of Plant Improvement Company, was the primary contractor on the project. Seaboard developed the traffic control plan and was responsible for traffic control during the entire project. HNTB, an architecture engineering firm, contracted with Seaboard to provide design services for the project. HNTB provided conceptual plans for traffic control, and both HNTB and Seaboard had input into the contents of the traffic control plan.

Hamilton-King v. HNTB Ga. Inc.

The trial court erred in excluding the plaintiffs' expert's testimony in a negligence case involving an accident, which occurred on a bridge that was undergoing a widening project on which the defendants were the general contractor and the designer of certain aspects of the project.

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