Court Opinion

ID: 9560379
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:48:26.997087+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:12:53.147903
License: Public Domain

Blackburn, Judge.
Plaintiffs appeal the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to defendant insurance agent on the basis that no injury could result to plaintiffs as a result of any negligence of defendant in failing to timely procure workers’ compensation coverage as no workers’ compensation claim had been timely filed for benefits under such coverage and the relevant statute of limitation barred any future claim.
Glenn R. Robinson and Ronald C. Robinson d/b/a Robinson & Robinson Construction Company (the Robinsons) appeal the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to J. Smith Lanier & Company of Carrollton (J. Smith Lanier), an insurance agency, on the Robinsons’ claim for negligent failure to procure insurance.
On December 13, 1990, the Robinsons paid a premium to J. Smith Lanier for workers’ compensation insurance. The Robinsons allege that coverage was to begin on December 14, 1990. On that very day, December 14, the Robinsons allege that one of their employees suffered a work-related injury. The Robinsons reported the accident and learned that coverage had been assigned to United States Fidelity & Guaranty (USF&G) and became effective on December 17,1990. USF&G denied coverage, claiming that its insurance was not in effect at the time of the accident. While the Robinsons reported the accident to USF&G, the employee never filed a workers’ compensation claim. Glenn R. Robinson deposed that the employee was given $200 per week or a total of $7,720 during the time that he was not working so that the employee could pay his bills. However, the employee testified to his understanding that the money was a loan, and almost all of the check stubs produced by the Robinsons reflecting these payments were marked as a “loan.” The Robinsons did not pay or promise to pay their employee anything else including medical bills. The Robin-sons’ final payment to the employee occurred in September 1991.
On February 22, 1992, the Robinsons sued J. Smith Lanier for negligently failing “to place the insurance coverage in a timely manner.” Subsequently, the trial court granted J. Smith Lanier’s motion for summary judgment concluding that, as a matter of law, the Robin-sons had not and could not suffer any damages due to the insurance agent’s alleged negligence.
Assuming that J. Smith Lanier failed to procure the coverage in a timely manner, the trial court found no evidence that the Robinsons had been harmed as a result of the alleged error (a) because no workers’ compensation claim had been timely filed and (b) because relevant statutes of limitation barred any such claim in the future. For the reasons outlined below, the trial court did not err in granting de*738fendant’s motion for summary judgment.
1. When an insurance agent negligently fails to procure insurance, he steps into the shoes of the carrier and becomes “liable for loss or damage to the limit of the agreed policy.” (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Ga. Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co. v. Arnold, 175 Ga. App. 850, 852 (334 SE2d 733) (1985). Similarly, when an agent negligently fails to procure insurance, his liability is limited to those losses that would have been covered by the agreed policy. Peagler & Manley Ins. Agency v. Studebaker, 156 Ga. App. 786 (275 SE2d 385) (1980) (“[w]here there has been no showing that recovery against the insurance carrier would have been possible, the alleged negligence of the insurance agent in failing to procure . . . coverage has not been shown to have caused the loss”).
Assuming without deciding that defendant was negligent in failing to timely procure the subject coverage, it is undisputed that no workers’ compensation claim was ever filed seeking benefits under such coverage and that all relevant statutes of limitation have expired.
The Robinsons contend that a claim for workers’ compensation benefits is not automatically barred by the statute of limitation. Rather, citing Maryland Cas. Co. v. Smith, 122 Ga. App. 262 (176 SE2d 666) (1970), they argue that an employer must affirmatively raise the statute of limitation before it works to bar a claim. Accordingly, should the Robinsons, as the employer, choose not to assert a statute of limitation defense to any workers’ compensation claim that the injured employee might subsequently file, J. Smith Lanier would be liable should the employee prove his injury was compensable.
While an employer is free to waive its available defenses, it is not free to do so to the detriment of its insurance carrier. Under the Robinsons’ hypothetical, the sole cause of any damage they would sustain would be their failure to assert a viable defense, and thus they could not look to the defendant for relief.
The Robinsons argue that the doctrine of avoidance of consequences is inapplicable. We disagree. It is clear that under Georgia law, one cannot willingly submit to being injured and then seek recompense for that injury from a third party even if that third party was negligent. “It is well-established Georgia law that before an action for a tort will lie, the plaintiff must show he sustained injury or damage as a result of the negligent act or omission to act in some duty owed to him. OCGA § 51-1-8.” (Emphasis supplied.) Whitehead v. Cuffie, 185 Ga. App. 351, 353 (364 SE2d 87) (1987). The injury threatened to the Robinsons in this case is uninsured loss. If such injury should come to pass, it would not be because J. Smith Lanier failed to timely procure insurance coverage over five years ago when the premium was presented. Rather, it would be because at some *739point in the future, with full knowledge of the consequences, the Robinsons refuse to assert a viable defense that would prevent the loss from occurring.
The Robinsons argue that the trial court’s rejection of their argument regarding the waiver of this defense establishes an unwise policy contrary to the public good. They argue that, under the present facts, they should not be penalized if, in good conscience, they choose to acknowledge liability to their injured employee and forego asserting their statute of limitation defense. This Court must apply the law as it exists, and we have no equitable jurisdiction. We find the willingness of the Robinsons to waive their statute of limitation defense and accept liability for their employee’s injury to be commendable. It is their attempt to require defendant to bear the expense of their charity that the law does not permit. It is easy to take the “high road” if another must bear the cost of the trip.
2. In their second enumeration of error, the Robinsons assert that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment because a question of fact existed as to whether the $7,720 they paid their injured employee was a loan or whether the payments constituted salary in lieu of compensation for the employee’s work-related injury.
The plaintiffs do not contend that the statute of limitation was tolled because of the above facts. Plaintiffs are not raising in this appeal that the payments would toll the running of the statute of limitation since more than two years have passed from the last payment. OCGA § 34-9-82 would permit the filing of a claim within two years of the date of the last payment of weekly benefits to the employee. Viewing the facts in favor of plaintiffs, it is undisputed that more than two years have passed since the last payment by the Robinsons to the employee. Therefore, any claim related to any such payments is barred by the applicable statute of limitation. This enumeration is without merit.
Thus, the trial court did not err in granting summary judgment to defendant, and we therefore affirm.

Judgment affirmed.

Beasley, C. J., Birdsong, P. J., Pope, P. J., Andrews, Johnson, Smith and Ruffin, JJ., concur. McMurray, P. J., dissents.