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Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 51. TORTS · Chapter 6. FRAUD AND DECEIT

51-6-2. When misrepresentation of material fact actionable as deceit; effect of mere concealment; knowledge of falsehood essential to deceit; when knowledge implied.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

  1. (a)

    Willful misrepresentation of a material fact, made to induce another to act, upon which such person acts to his injury, will give him a right of action. Mere concealment of a material fact, unless done in such a manner as to deceive and mislead, will not support an action.#

  2. (b)

    In all cases of deceit, knowledge of the falsehood constitutes an essential element of the tort. A fraudulent or reckless representation of facts as true when they are not, if intended to deceive, is equivalent to a knowledge of their falsehood even if the party making the representation does not know that such facts are false.#

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Orig. Code 1863, § 2901; Code 1868, § 2907; Code 1873, § 2958; Code 1882, § 2958; Civil Code 1895, § 3814; Civil Code 1910, § 4410; Code 1933, § 105-302.

Law reviews

For note discussing limits of tort action for deceit as a consumer remedy, see 25 Emory L.J. 445 (1976). For note, ‘‘Misrepresentations and Nondisclosures in the Insurance Application,’’ see 13 Ga. L. Rev. 876 (1979). For comment on Aderhold v. Zimmer, 86 Ga. App. 204, 71 S.E.2d 270 (1952), see 15 Ga. B. J. 355 (1953). For comment on Gardner v. Celanese Corp. of America, 88 Ga. App. 642, 76 S.E.2d 817 (1953), see 16 Ga. B. J. 340 (1954). For comment on Whiten v. Orr Constr. Co., 109 Ga. App. 267, 136 S.E.2d 136 (1964), see 1 Ga. St. B. J. 234 (1964).

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t51-(v39)-2017-pdf.pdf, Volume V39, 2017 edition, pages 624 to 625; merge action: annotated; file SHA-256 bc30a40687b2.