---
title: O.C.G.A. § 44-12-157. Effect of destruction of or injury to property on defendant’s liability.
collection: code
id: 44-12-157
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 44-12-157 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-12-157
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-12-157.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-12-157/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t44-ch8-15-(v32)-2022-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=9e9e06de_0#page=269
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-12.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/44-12-156.md
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index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: PROPERTY / RIGHTS IN PERSONALTY / TROVER / IN GENERAL
---

# O.C.G.A. § 44-12-157. Effect of destruction of or injury to property on defendant’s liability.

Pending a trover action, the death or destruction of or material injury to the property in dispute shall be no defense to a mere wrongdoer. If the defendant is a bona fide claimant and the injury arises from an act of God and is in no way the result of the defendant’s conduct, the jury may take the death, destruction, or material injury of the property into consideration; but in no case shall such an event cast the costs upon the plaintiff.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, § 3011; Code 1868, § 3023; Code 1882, § 3078; Civil Code 1895, § 3919; Civil Code 1910, § 4516; Code 1933, § 107-107.