On May 2, 2013, Harry White Harry was killed when a branch from a diseased tree1 fell on his car as he was driving down Georgia Highway 113 in Carroll County. Mark White White, as the administrator of Harry’s estate, sued the Georgia Department of Transportation DOT under the Georgia Tort Claims Act GTCA, OCGA § 50-21-20 et seq., as well as Tommy Baxter, the owner of the property adjacent to Highway 113 and the property on which the tree was located. The trial court granted the DOT’s motion to dismiss, finding that the DOT was immune from suit under OCGA § 50-21-24 8.2 White now appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in finding the DOT immune because 1 negligent reliance on a DOT-owned right-of-way book would waive the State’s sovereign immunity, and 2 the DOT’s assertion before the accident that the tree was on state property resulted from a negligent or inadequate inspection of the right-of-way, waiving the State’s immunity. After review, we conclude that there was evidence presented in this case to enable the trial court to find that the claims against the DOT were barred by sovereign immunity, and under the any evidence rule, the trial court’s order will not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion. Finding no such abuse of discretion, we affirm the trial court’s order granting summary judgment to the DOT on sovereign immunity grounds. The claims against Baxter remain pending.
The Georgia Constitution authorizes the legislature to waive the state’s sovereign immunity. Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. I, Sec. II, Par. IX a and e. The GTCA, OCGA § 50-21-20 et seq., declares the public policy of this state to be that the state shall only be liable in tort actions within the limitations set out in the Act. OCGA § 50-21-21 a. This waiver of sovereign immunity is subject to various exceptions. See OCGA § 50-21-24. At issue here is the exception for loss resulting from inadequate or negligent inspections of property not owned by the State. OCGA § 50-21-24 8. That exception provides that
