We granted appellant-plaintiff Gary Richards’s application for interlocutory review of the state court’s order granting appellee-defendant State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company’s motion to dismiss for lack of standing. Pertinently, this case arises out of an automobile collision between appellant-plaintiff Gary Richards and appellee-defendant Robert Bufkin, the driver of a vehicle insured by State Farm, allegedly causing injuries to Mr. Richards’s lower back. Following the collision, Mr. Richards filed a personal injury claim with State Farm. He and State Farm thereafter engaged in settlement negotiations. When these broke down,1 Mr. Richards sued State Farm for bad faith refusal to settle and Mr. Bufkin for damages. Mr. Richards appeals the state court’s order granting State Farm’s motion to dismiss, arguing, among other things, standing to sue as a third-party beneficiary of Mr. Bufkin’s State Farm insurance policy under OCGA § 9-2-20 b.2 We find no standing to sue. Held:
Generally, a party not in privity of contract may not bring a direct action suit against the liability insurer of the party alleged to have caused damage absent an unsatisfied judgment against the insured, legislative mandate, or as permitted by a provision in the insurance policy in issue. Googe v. Florida Int’l Indemnity Co., 262 Ga. 546, 548 1 422 SE2d 552 1992; Caudill v. Strickland, 230 Ga. App. 644 1 498 SE2d 81 1998; McKin v. Gilbert, 208 Ga. App. 788, 790 1 432 SE2d 233 1993; Bacon v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 198 Ga. App. 436 401 SE2d 625 1991. The exceptions to the general rule as “legislatively mandated” include the statutory authority of persons injured by motor common carriers from tort liability to sue the insurers directly. OCGA § 46- 7-12 e; Griffin v. Johnson, 157 Ga. App. 657 278 SE2d 422 1981. The statutory language designating children riding county school buses as insureds under required accident policies allow direct action. OCGA § 20-2-1090; Krasner v. Harper, 90 Ga. App. 128, 136-138 2 82 SE2d 267 1954, aff’d American Guaranty & Liability Ins. Co. v. Krasner, 211 Ga. 142 84 SE2d 46 1954. Further, members of the general public also are insured from injury resulting upon the operation of such buses, not as liability coverage, but as accident coverage, allowing direct action. OCGA § 20-2-1092; State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Jones, 98 Ga. App. 46, 57-58 2 104 SE2d 725 1958. Although not expressly recognized by statute, the supreme court has recognized the status of the victims of automobile accidents as third-party beneficiaries in light of compulsory automobile accident insurance; however, such status does not create the right of direct action for damages under the policy but only allows an action for equitable reformation or declaratory relief under the policy. Googe v. Florida Int’l Indemnity Co., supra at 548-549 1; see also Payne v. Twiggs County School District, 269 Ga. 361, 364 3 496 SE2d 690 1998.
