Bliss v. Cobb County

599 F. Supp. 233, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21402
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedDecember 7, 1984
DocketCiv. No. C-84-170-A
StatusPublished

This text of 599 F. Supp. 233 (Bliss v. Cobb County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bliss v. Cobb County, 599 F. Supp. 233, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21402 (N.D. Ga. 1984).

Opinion

ORDER

O’KELLEY, District Judge.

Presently pending is the motion of defendant Cobb County for summary judgment. The facts are not disputed. Plaintiff, a citizen of Ohio, was walking along the northern side of Windy Hill Road in Cobb County, Georgia, on March 29, 1983. She stepped on a manhole cover, which tilted up. Plaintiff fell into the manhole, sustaining injuries. At the time of the incident, defendant Cobb County owned and maintained the manhole cover, and attendant storm sewer. Additionally, defendant had a policy of general liability insurance in effect on March 29, 1983.

Plaintiff brought this diversity action claiming that defendant was negligent in the construction and maintenance of the manhole, which proximately caused her injuries. Defendant’s motion is based on its claim of sovereign immunity. Upon review, the court grants defendant’s motion for summary judgment.

The sole issue in the instant action is whether the 1983 Georgia Constitution provides for waiver of sovereign immunity for counties to the extent of liability insurance coverage. To fully analyze and understand this issue, a discussion of sovereign immunity’s history in Georgia is necessary. The state itself possessed sovereign immunity at common law. Revels v. Tift County, 235 Ga. 333, 219 S.E.2d 445 (1975). In 1974, an amendment to the Georgia Constitution provided for a “State Court of Claims with jurisdiction to try and dispose of cases involving claims for injury and damage ... against the State of Georgia, its agencies or political subdivision ____” Ga. Const.Art. VI, § V, 111 (1976). The amendment also stated that it did not “constitute a waiver of the immunity of the State ... but such sovereign immunity is [234]*234expressly reserved” except as set forth in the Constitution or by the General Assembly. Id. Georgia courts interpreted this provision to elevate sovereign immunity to constitutional status. See, e.g., Revels v. Tift County, 235 Ga. 333, 219 S.E.2d 445 (1975). Thus only the legislature, and not the courts, could erode sovereign immunity-

Sovereign immunity covered counties pursuant to Ga.Code Ann. § 23-1502 (Harrison 1971) (now codified as O.C.G.A. § 36-1-4), since 1895. Revels, 235 Ga. at 334, 219 S.E.2d at 446. Article VI, § V, 111 was held to elevate a county’s claim of sovereign immunity to a constitutional level as well, even though the amendment stated that it did not constitute a waiver of a “state” claim of immunity. Nelson v. Spalding County, 249 Ga. 334, 290 S.E.2d 915 (1982). This interpretation is supported by the amendment’s language authorizing a court of claims for the state and its political subdivisions.

Prior to the 1983 Constitution, sovereign immunity clearly protected a county except where the Code or the Constitution expressly provided for waiver. See e.g., Art. I, § III, 111 (no immunity for the taking of property), O.C.G.A. § 33-24-51 (liability insurance for motor vehicles constitutes waiver). The 1983 Constitution provides that “sovereign immunity extends to the state and all of its departments and agencies.” It can be waived for contractor actions and for damage actions “for any claim against the state or any of its departments and agencies for which liability insurance protection ... has been provided but only to the extent of any ... insurance provided.” Ga. Const. Art. I, § II, ¶ IX (1983). Sovereign immunity “of the state or any of its departments and agencies may ... be waived further by Act of the General Assembly which specifically provides that ... immunity is hereby waived and the extent of the waiver.” Id. Another provision of the new Constitution, found in the article on local government, provides that “[t]he General Assembly may waive the immunity of counties, municipalities, and school districts by law.” Art. IX, § II, IIIX (1983) (the Immunity Provision).

Plaintiff contends that Art. I, § II, ¶ IX (the Waiver Provision) applies to counties; defendant argues that it does not. It’s language is “the state and any of its departments and agencies.” Although this language is clear, the court has examined definitions of departments and agencies found in the Georgia Code to interpret these provisions; the Constitution does not define them. A review of the definitional provisions in the statutes indicates that “department” and “agency” does not include “county.” Section 50-4-1, the definitions section of the title on state government, states that

[ujnless otherwise required by context, as used in this Code when related to the executive branch of state government, the term: ... (2) “Agency” means any officer, department, division, bureau, board, commission, or agency in the executive branch of the state government ... (4) “Department” means a principal, functional, and administrative entity and its divisions within the executive branch of the state government.

O.C.G.A. § 50-4-1. Statutory provisions define agency and department, and county differently. See e.g., O.C.G.A. § 50-5-143 (political subdivisions defined as county, municipal corporation, or board of education); id. § 50-13-2 (in that chapter agency is each state board, bureau, committee, department, activity or official authorized by law to make rules or decide cases, with exceptions); id. (agency, as used only in that chapter, defined as inter alia departments, bureaus, boards, of the state, county, et al.) The court thus will not interpret “departments and agencies” differently than the legislature’s definitions, which comport with the Waiver Provision’s plain meaning.

Although the language of the Waiver Provision demonstrates clearly that it does not apply to counties, the court also has reviewed other statutory provisions dealing with immunity See Undercofler v. L.C. Robinson & Sons, Inc., 111 Ga.App. 411, [235]*235141 S.E.2d 847, aff'd, 221 Ga. 391, 144 S.E.2d 755 (1965). Most of these provisions show that “department and agency” and “county” often are treated differently regarding immunity. Some of these provisions include O.C.G.A. § 36-1-4 (“a county is not liable to suit ... unless made so by statute.”) (formerly Ga.Code Ann. § 23-1502); O.C.G.A. § 36-33-1 (municipal corporation liable for official’s acts in certain circumstances); id. 32-2-5 (actions by or against Georgia DOT authorized; does not waive immunity); id.

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Related

Revels v. Tift County
219 S.E.2d 445 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1975)
Hill v. McClure
320 S.E.2d 562 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1984)
Undercofler v. L. C. Robinson & Sons, Inc.
141 S.E.2d 847 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1965)
Butterworth v. Butterworth
180 S.E.2d 549 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1971)
Wilmoth v. Henry County
309 S.E.2d 120 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1983)
Nelson v. Spalding County
290 S.E.2d 915 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1982)
L. C. Robinson & Sons, Inc. v. Undercofler
144 S.E.2d 755 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1965)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
599 F. Supp. 233, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21402, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bliss-v-cobb-county-gand-1984.