Brian Schriver was treated by a doctor in a hospital emergency room and died approximately 24 hours later. Schriver’s wife filed suit against, inter alia, North Fulton Emergency Physicians (“NFEP”), which had supplied the emergency room doctor. NFEP filed a motion for summary judgment on the ground that it cannot be held vicariously liable for the actions of the doctor because she was an independent contractor. The trial court granted NFEP’s motion for summary judgment and Schriver’s wife appealed. On appeal, Schriver’s wife contended that the trial court erred by granting summary judgment when genuine issues of material fact exist, making findings of fact and assigning weight to such facts at the summary judgment phase, and finding that there was a presumption that the doctor was an independent contractor based on the contract between the doctor and NFEP.
In Georgia, when considering whether a staffing company, like NFEP, can be vicariously liable for the actions of a physician, the court determines whether a person is an employee or an independent contractor by examining whether the employer has assumed the right to control the time, manner, and method of executing the work. The right to control the time means the employer has assumed the right to control the person’s actual hours of work. The right to control the manner and method means the employer has assumed the right to tell the person how to perform all details of the job, including the tools he should use and the procedures he should follow.
The Court of Appeals of Georgia stated in its October 21, 2025 decision: “Georgia common law has long established a rebuttable presumption that if a contract designates a party as an independent contractor, it is presumed to be true … Because the contract clearly states that the doctor is an independent contractor, that relationship is presumed to be true unless the evidence shows that NFEP has assumed the right to control the time, manner, and method of executing the work … the evidence shows that NFEP had no control over the time, manner, and method of how the doctor performed her work. See Williamson, 251 Ga. App. at 670. The doctor’s contract with NFEP states that NFEP has no control over the methods by which the doctor performed her work. The NFEP corporate representative deposed that it did not have the right to control the doctor’s exercise of her professional judgment and that, under no circumstances, did NFEP have any right to direct or control how a particular patient was treated. There is no evidence that NFEP controlled the method or manner in which the doctor performed her job … the contract and the deposition testimony establish that NFEP did not retain a right to control the doctor’s time.”
The Court of Appeals of Georgia held: “Because it is clear that NFEP did not control the time, manner, and method of
the doctor’s work, the trial court correctly concluded that the doctor was an independent contractor and that NFEP cannot be held liable for her acts.”
Source Schriver v. North Fulton Emergency Physicians, LLC, A25A0867.
If you or a loved one suffered harm (or worse) in a hospital in Georgia or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a Georgia medical malpractice attorney, or a malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your hospital medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a medical malpractice claim against a hospital, if appropriate.
Click here to visit our website or call us toll-free in the United States at 800-295-3959 to find medical malpractice lawyers in your state who may assist you.
Turn to us when you don’t know where to turn.
