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Georgia Dep't of Community Health v. Neal

The plaintiff failed to show that she entered into a signed, written contract with the defendant government agency such that the ex contractu exception to the State's sovereign immunity applied; the agency was therefore entitled to sovereign immunity and the trial court erred in denying its motion to dismiss the action.

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Plaintiff Trecia Neal filed this action seeking class certification on behalf of Gold and Silver members of the State Health Benefits Plan SHBP for 2014. Neal’s complaint alleges that the Georgia Department of Community Health the Department breached its contract with these members when it retroactively eliminated the three tiers of coinsurance for healthcare services and instead combined them into a single schedule of co-payments, adding co-payments for pharmacy benefits and certain medical visits, and also refused to reduce premiums. The Department moved to dismiss on the ground of sovereign immunity, but the trial court denied the motion on the ground that the Plan documents, read with relevant statutes and regulations, created a written contract that established a waiver of sovereign immunity. The Department appealed this ruling under the collateral order doctrine,1 and now argues that no such written contract amounting to a waiver has been proven. We agree and reverse.

We review de novo a trial court’s ruling on a motion to dismiss based on sovereign immunity grounds, which is a matter of law. Factual findings are sustained if there is evidence supporting them, and the burden of proof is on the party seeking the waiver of immunity. Bd. of Regents v. Canas, 295 Ga. App. 505, 509 3 672 SE2d 471 2009 citation and punctuation omitted.

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