"Attorney Fees on the Line: Rear-End Crash Sparks Debate on Bad Faith"

Swift Currie attorney Brad Wolff was included in a roundup of sources for the article, “Attorney Fees on the Line: Rear-End Crash Sparks Debate on Bad Faith,” that was published by the Daily Report.

Wolff was the appellate council in a recent ‘bad faith’ dispute regarding an automotive accident. During the court proceedings, he argued, “Evidence of a traffic violation is evidence of negligence. It is negligence per se. But as this court has said, and as the Court of Appeals has held many times, bad faith is not negligence.”

Wolff went on to note that neither of Georgia’s appellate courts had “held that reckless conduct is sufficient to create an issue of bad faith.”

“This court has held, outside of a traffic situation, that evidence that would support an award of punitive damages would also support an award of attorney’s fees under the ‘bad faith statute,’” he maintained. “I know this court has recently defined reckless conduct in a different setting. To the extent that reckless conduct involves conscious indifference, we at least have a very close case as to whether there is bad faith.”

Wolff held that bad faith was beyond bad judgement and negligence, lending more toward being dishonest and unethical. There needs to be some consciousness of ill will for something to be found to be in bad faith.

“It’s not only an intentional act, it’s an intent to cause harm,” Wolff clarified

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