(Credit: LIGHTFIELD STUDIOS/Adobe Stock) Sovereign Immunity Ruling Clarifies 'Motor Vehicle Use' in Wrongful Death Case
"'[L]oading' the decedent into the back of the patrol car was inherently a part of the detention process because the decedent could not have been detained inside the patrol car without having been 'loaded' inside it by the deputies," read the Supreme Court of Georgia reversal.
October 26, 2023 at 12:17 PM
7 minute read
Four months after attorneys disputed sovereign immunity afforded to a Georgia sheriff following the death of a detainee restrained inside a patrol car, the Supreme Court of Georgia has clarified that "the 'use' of a motor vehicle" as provided under Georgia insurance and liability laws "is not limited by the terms 'actively in use' 'as a vehicle.'"
In a unanimous opinion, the justices determined that "loading a person into and restraining a person in a patrol car constitutes a 'use' of a patrol car as to which sovereign immunity is waived under OCGA §§ 33-24-51(b) and 36-92-2."
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