Georgia has no separate pool-injury statute for private homes. The result depends on why the injured person was on the property, because O.C.G.A. Title 51, Chapter 3 sets a different duty for each kind of visitor.
| Person hurt | Duty | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Paying guest, tenant, customer | Ordinary care to keep the premises safe | § 51-3-1 |
| Social guest | Liability only for "willful or wanton injury" | § 51-3-2 |
| Adult trespasser | No duty except to avoid willful or wanton injury | § 51-3-3(b) |
| Child who wandered in | Attractive nuisance common law is preserved | § 51-3-3(c) |
The social guest category surprises people. A friend’s child invited for a birthday party may be treated as a licensee, and the claim then depends on what the host knew of a hidden danger and did about it, not on whether the pool met best practice. Georgia courts have also read the duty to a licensee to include a warning about a known hidden peril once the owner expects the visitor near it.
For a neighbor’s child who slips through a gap, the attractive nuisance question is whether the owner should have expected children, and whether the risk could have been cheaply guarded against. A local building code may require a barrier, and a code violation can support negligence per se if the code was meant to prevent this injury.
Comparative fault applies in all of these, under § 51-12-33, though a young child’s capacity for fault is its own issue. An adult who dives into a shallow pool they’ve used many times faces a strong argument that they knew as much as the owner.
General information about Georgia law as of November 2026. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.