Karan, Inc. v. Auto-Owners Insurance

HINES, Justice.

This Court granted certiorari to the Court of Appeals in Auto-Owners Ins. Co. v. Karan, Inc., 272 Ga. App. 620 (612 SE2d 920) (2005), to consider whether it erred in applying res judicata or collateral estoppel to bar inquiry into the question of whether the insureds’ notice of a lawsuit to the insurer was timely. For the reasons which follow, we conclude that the Court of Appeals misapplied the principles of res judicata and collateral estoppel to preclude inquiry into the issue of the timeliness of notice.

The salient facts are set forth by the Court of Appeals. On May 23,…