Unique Paint Company, Inc. brought suit against Wm. F. Newman Company, Inc. seeking to recover damages for expenses incurred when six employees of Unique Paint were injured in a vehicular collision allegedly caused by the negligence of a driver employed by Newman. The trial court granted Newman’s motion for partial summary judgment as to all damage claims except the claim for property damages, and Unique Paint appeals.
On appeal, appellant urges this court to overrule or limit existing precedent and follow a foreign case to hold that it is entitled to recover the amount of increase in its workers’ compensation premium which resulted from the collision and the ensuing claims filed by appellant’s employees. We decline, as we find the controlling Georgia decisions to be correct. Moreover, the issue also has been addressed by the Supreme Court, which this court cannot overrule.
In
Sanford-Brown Co. v. Patent Scaffolding Co.,
Appellant’s argument that OCGA § 51-2-2 authorizes its claim is similarly without merit because that statute accords an injured party (such as the employees here) a cause of action against the employer of the third party tortfeasor, but does not extend that right to the injured party’s employer.
Ireland Elec. Corp. v. Ga. Hwy. Express,
Judgment affirmed.
