Negligent entrustment holds someone responsible for handing a vehicle or other dangerous item to a person they actually know is unfit to use it safely. The owner is being judged on that decision, not on the driver’s driving. Georgia courts use an actual knowledge standard: suspicion or what the owner should have found out isn’t enough.
The elements are:
- the owner or person in control gave the item;
- that person actually knew the driver was incompetent, or had a known habit of recklessness;
- the driver’s incompetence caused the injury.
Evidence of knowledge can be direct, such as an admission that the owner knew of prior DUIs, or circumstantial, such as a driving record the employer actually pulled. For companies, a history of incidents can matter.
This claim can sit beside others. An employer may face vicarious liability under O.C.G.A. § 51-2-2 and a direct entrustment claim. Quynn v. Hulsey (2020) held that the older rule dismissing those direct claims once the employer admits responsibility didn’t survive the apportionment statute. Fault is split under § 51-12-33, so a jury can assign some to the driver and some to the person who handed over the keys.
Separately, Georgia’s family purpose doctrine may make the family’s car owner responsible for a household member’s driving, without any proof of what the owner knew. That’s a different rule with different elements.
General information about Georgia law as of November 2026. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.