2020 Georgia Code
Title 36 - Local Government
Chapter 85 - Interlocal Risk Management Agencies
§ 36-85-20. Exercise of Authority Not Provision of Liability Insurance; Sovereign Immunity

The exercise by a municipality or county of the authority provided in this chapter shall not constitute the provision of liability insurance protection under Article I, Section II, Paragraph IX of the Constitution of the State of Georgia. The participation by a municipality or county as a member of an agency authorized by this chapter shall not constitute the obtaining of liability insurance and no sovereign immunity shall be waived on account of such participation.

(Code 1981, §36-85-20, enacted by Ga. L. 1986, p. 1496, § 1; Ga. L. 1987, p. 1454, § 5.)

- For article, "Local Government Tort Liability: The Summer of '92," see 9 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 405 (1993).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Constitutionality.

- O.C.G.A. § 36-85-20 conflicts with Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. II, Para. IX, as the statute read prior to the 1990 amendment, and was therefore void. Hiers v. City of Barwick, 262 Ga. 129, 414 S.E.2d 647 (1992).

County's participation in an interlocal risk management plan did not constitute liability insurance for the purpose of waiving the county's sovereign immunity to the extent of the plan's coverage. Gilbert v. Richardson, 264 Ga. 744, 452 S.E.2d 476 (1994).

Even though the 1991 amendment of Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. II, Para. IX, eliminated the language under which O.C.G.A. § 36-85-20 was found unconstitutionally void, the revision did not resurrect the statute and, accordingly, the statute did not provide a basis for finding a county's participation in an interlocal risk management plan constituted a waiver of sovereign immunity. The county's purchase of such insurance agreement constituted the purchase of insurance under O.C.G.A. § 33-24-51(b) and the county waived the county's sovereign immunity to the extent of such coverage; reversing in part, Gilbert v. Richardson, 211 Ga. App. 795, 440 S.E.2d 684 (1994). Gilbert v. Richardson, 264 Ga. 744, 452 S.E.2d 476 (1994).

- Trial court erred in granting summary judgment to city and the officer involved in a car accident, based on the doctrine of sovereign immunity, since it has been held that the constitutional provision providing waiver of immunity to the extent of insurance applies to municipalities, that the nonwaiver of immunity provision of O.C.G.A. § 36-85-20 is unconstitutional, and that municipal coverage under a Georgia Interlocal Risk Management Agency (GIRMA) policy results in waiver of immunity to the extent of that coverage. Harden v. Burdette, 204 Ga. App. 733, 420 S.E.2d 626 (1992).

Cited in Sinkfield v. Pike, 201 Ga. App. 652, 411 S.E.2d 889 (1991).

Sec.

• 36-86-1. Short title.
• 36-86-2. Legislative findings and determinations; purpose.
• 36-86-3. Definitions.
• 36-86-4. Local Government Efficiency Grant Program established; grant categories; rules and regulations; budget process; efficiency assessments.

- Local Government Efficiency Grant Program, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Chapter 110-5.

- For note on 1993 enactment of this chapter, see 10 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 160 (1993).