Background
Rico Ray was injured in a September 2024 collision involving a vehicle owned by Sharon Spivey and driven by Kendra Sanders. Ray sent Progressive, Sanders and Spivey’s insurer, a settlement offer under Georgia’s recently amended offer-to-settle statute, OCGA § 9-11-67.1. The offer sought Progressive’s $50,000 policy limits and included deadlines for payment and insurance-related sworn statements.
Progressive timely sent written acceptance stating that it accepted the statutory material terms in full on Sanders’s behalf. It later sent the check and documents, but they went to an outdated “virtual office” address on Ray’s lawyer’s website and were not received by the stated deadline. Ray sued Sanders, and the trial court denied Sanders’s motion to enforce the settlement, concluding that no enforceable agreement had been formed.
The Court’s Holding
The Court of Appeals reversed. Under the 2024 version of OCGA § 9-11-67.1, an eligible settlement offer is an offer to form a bilateral contract. Progressive’s timely written acceptance of all statutory material terms therefore created a binding settlement agreement.
The court held that the offeror could not make extra-statutory requirements “material” by labeling them that way. Whether Progressive timely delivered payment and affidavits, or used the requested affidavit form, concerns performance or possible breach of the already-formed agreement—not whether a contract existed. Ray’s appellate arguments about breach and rescission were not preserved because they were not raised or decided below.
Key Takeaways
- A timely written acceptance of all statutory material terms under OCGA § 9-11-67.1 (2024) forms a binding bilateral settlement contract.
- Terms outside the statute’s enumerated material terms are immaterial, even if an offer labels them material or conditions acceptance on them.
- Late payment or disputed compliance with settlement obligations may support a breach issue, but does not defeat contract formation.
Why It Matters
The decision applies Georgia’s 2024 amendments to motor-vehicle injury settlement offers and distinguishes formation from performance. Insurers and claimants must recognize that a timely written acceptance of the statutory terms can bind the parties before payment and supporting documents are delivered.