Opinion ID: 76798
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Georgia Code Section 51-1-6

Text: 41 Georgia Code section 51-1-6 states [w]hen the law requires a person to perform an act for the benefit of another or to refrain from doing an act which may injure another, although no cause of action is given in express terms, the injured party may recover for the breach of such legal duty if he suffers damage thereby. Ga.Code Ann. § 51-1-6. The section provides for recovery of damages upon breach of a legal duty and specifies that the requirement under the law to perform or refrain from doing an act must be for the benefit of the injured person. Dupree v. Keller Indus., 199 Ga.App. 138, 404 S.E.2d 291, 294 (1991). To recover on a claim of breach of statutory duty, the person complaining of the breach must be within the class for whose benefit the statute was enacted. See Spivey v. Sellers, 185 Ga.App. 241, 363 S.E.2d 856, 858-59 (1987). 42 Section 51-1-6 allows an individual to assert a tort claim for the violation of a legal duty where a cause of action does not otherwise exist. Higdon contends that the defendants' alleged violation of the ADA provides her a cause of action under section 51-1-6. The breach of the legal duty Higdon seeks to rely on here is one where an express cause of action already exists as part of a remedial scheme under ... the ADA. Cruet v. Emory Univ., 85 F.Supp.2d 1353, 1354 (N.D.Ga.2000). Title II of the ADA provides a cause of action for Higdon, and she asserted that claim. Section 51-1-6 does not allow her to pursue duplicative remedies for an alleged violation of federal law. See id. The district court, therefore, properly entered summary judgment against Higdon's claim under section 51-1-6. 43