The Georgia Court of Appeals issued a ruling on June 15, 2026, in Crook v. Six Flags Over Georgia II, L.P. that changes the procedural mechanics of the workers’ compensation exclusive remedy defense in Georgia. The court held that WC exclusivity is an affirmative defense, not a jurisdictional bar. The practical consequence: Georgia employers can no longer obtain an automatic dismissal of workplace injury tort suits at the threshold. They must plead, prove, and preserve the exclusive remedy defense at every stage, or risk waiving it entirely.
The case. Andrea Crook worked as a seasonal scare actor for Six Flags’ Fright Fest. On October 1, 2023, she died after falling from an open cargo van transporting employees; the door was unsecured and there were no seatbelts or passenger seats. Her spouse filed a wrongful death suit. The trial court dismissed the suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, citing WC exclusivity. The appeals court reversed, expressly disapproving three prior decisions, including Kellogg Co. v. Pinkston (2001), that had treated exclusivity as a jurisdictional bar requiring no proof from the employer.
Under the new standard, trial courts retain jurisdiction over workplace injury tort claims. Employers bear the burden of establishing that the injury arose out of and in the course of employment. The defense can also be waived if not properly raised and preserved in responsive pleadings.
Who it affects. Any Georgia employer that self-insures its workers’ compensation exposure, or operates a captive covering WC, faces heightened exposure, particularly those with:
- Field transportation operations in government vehicles, utility vehicles, or maintenance fleets
- Public-entity workers in atypical settings such as park and recreation departments, public transit, or school transportation
- Seasonal or part-time workforces where employment scope can be disputed
- Facilities in the Atlanta metro or Savannah corridor, where verdict risk is concentrated
Georgia ranks among the five states that account for 76% of 2024’s $31.3 billion in nuclear verdicts, per earlier analysis on lossreserves.com. A lost exclusive remedy defense in Georgia is not a procedural inconvenience; it is an exposure to a venue capable of eight-figure verdicts.
Reserve mechanism. Before this ruling, a Georgia workplace injury claim occupied one reserve bucket: the WC file. Once compensability was accepted or contested, the employer’s liability was bounded by the WC Act. The exclusive remedy bar was raised at threshold, and courts dismissed the tort suit before discovery.
Under Crook, any Georgia workplace fatality or catastrophic injury where compensability is disputed creates simultaneous exposure across two reserve buckets until summary judgment or trial resolves the question. The WC claim continues to develop. A parallel tort suit, including discovery, expert retention, and potential jury trial, runs concurrently. Defense costs in the GL and public entity tort column now cannot be avoided by a quick motion to dismiss. The development tail on any disputed Georgia workplace fatality extends from months to years.
For self-insured public entities, the contingent tort liability reserve is often set at zero on the assumption that WC is the exclusive remedy and no tort exposure exists. That assumption is no longer defensible in Georgia for any claim where compensability is genuinely in dispute.
What this means for your next review. Ask your actuary whether Georgia workplace fatality and catastrophic injury claims carry a contingent GL or public entity tort liability loading. If those claims are carried as WC-only with no tort reserve, the assumption needs revisiting. Confirm with litigation counsel that all open Georgia workplace injury claims have exclusive remedy preserved in the responsive pleadings; a waived defense is an unquantifiable open tort exposure.
Watch the Six Flags case on remand for the first merits ruling under the new standard, and any Georgia legislative response seeking to reinstate jurisdictional language by statute, which would reverse this decision prospectively.
Sources
- Crook v. Six Flags Over Georgia II, L.P., Georgia Court of Appeals (June 15, 2026), FindLaw
- NCCI Court Case Update, July 2026, WorkCompWire
- Georgia appeals court revives Six Flags wrongful death suit, Business Insurance
- Georgia Employers Bear Burden of Proving Exclusivity Rule, WorkersCompensation.com