---
title: O.C.G.A. § 51-12-3. Direct and consequential damages distinguished.
collection: code
id: 51-12-3
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 51-12-3 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-12-3
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-12-3.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-12-3/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t51-(v39)-2017-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=6b891965_0#page=847
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/51-12.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-12-2.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/51-12-4.md
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: TORTS / DAMAGES / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 51-12-3. Direct and consequential damages distinguished.

(a) Direct damages are those which follow immediately upon the doing of a tortious act.

(b) Consequential damages are those which are the necessary and connected effect of a tortious act, even though they are to some extent dependent upon other circumstances.

## History

Orig. Code 1863, § 3003; Code 1868, § 3016; Code 1873, § 3071; Code 1882, § 3071; Civil Code 1895, § 3911; Civil Code 1910, § 4508; Code 1933, § 105-2007.

## Law Reviews

For article, ‘‘Jury Instructions and Proximate Cause: An Uncertain Trumpet in Georgia,’’ see 27 Ga. St. B. J. 60 (1990).