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Biosecurity BriefingState Enacts Good Samaritan Law for Businesses Assisting in Emergencies By Brooke Courtney, May 23, 2008 According to a press release from the Public/Private Legal Preparedness Initiative at the North Carolina Institute for Public Health, the State of Georgia recently passed the Corporate Good Samaritan Act, which provides additional liability protection to businesses and nonprofit organizations when they perform “Good Samaritan” acts in times of emergency or crisis.1 Most state Good Samaritan laws, which were designed to provide incentives for individuals to volunteer during emergencies without the fear of liability, offer civil immunity for individuals when they act in good faith to provide assistance.2 However, because most of these laws have left “significant gaps of liability exposure for both private and non-profit organizations that are willing to assist government agencies in voluntarily responding to an emergency posed by a natural disaster, emerging infection, or terrorist event,” there is a need to strengthen the laws to protect such entities and create incentives for them to assist with planning and response efforts.2 The act, which passed the Georgia Senate unanimously, provides that any natural person, association, organization, or private entity (directors, employees, and agents of such organization) working in coordination with and under the direction of an appropriate state agency who, voluntarily without the expectation or receipt of compensation, provides services or goods to another to prevent or minimize harm resulting from an emergency or disaster for which an emergency is declared by the Governor or federal agency, shall not be civilly liable to any natural person receiving such assistance as a result of a good faith act or omission unless the damage was caused by willful wanton negligence or misconduct of such natural person, association, organization, or entity.1 A news release issued by the Public/Private Legal Preparedness Initiative stated that “the successful passage of the…Act…was due in large part to the action of an Emergency Volunteer Action Network (EVAN) coalition that formed around this initiative. The Georgia EVAN coalition included such partners as the Georgia Division of Public Health, Georgia Emergency Management Agency, law enforcement officials, Business Executives for National Security, and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.”1 In May 2007, Iowa “became the first state to extend its statutory Good Samaritan liability protection to corporations and non-profit entities acting in good faith to provide emergency aid during a public health disaster,” according to the Public/Private Legal Preparedness Initiative.3 That state’s law, which passed the Iowa House and Senate unanimously, extends liability coverage to "a person, corporation, or other legal entity, or an employee of or agent of such person, corporation, or entity, who, during a public health disaster, in good faith and at the request of or under the direction of the department or the department of public defense renders emergency care or assistance to the victim of a public health disaster."3 References
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