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Liberty Cnty. Sch. Dist. v. Halliburton

The trial court erred in failing to dismiss the plaintiff's claims against a school district and a number of its officers in their official capacities, since the Georgia Tort Claims Act expressly excludes school districts from the waiver of sovereign immunity.

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After Laverne Halliburton’s contract as a school principal in the Liberty County School District was not renewed for the 2011-2012 academic year, Halliburton sued the District and a number of its officers, including Superintendent Dr. Judy Burton Scherer and seven members of the county school board collectively, “defendants”, for racial discrimination. Halliburton sought a writ of mandamus, other injunctive relief, damages, and attorney fees. Defendants moved to dismiss on grounds including that defendants were entitled to sovereign and/or qualified immunity. On appeal from the trial court’s denial of the motion to dismiss, defendants argue that their motion should have been granted because Halliburton had no right to a renewed contract and because her claims are barred by sovereign and qualified immunity. We conclude that although the District itself is exempt from suit under sovereign immunity, due to the very early stage of this litigation, it is conceivable that Halliburton could produce facts consistent with her claim that Scherer and/or one or more board members acted with actual malice such that they would not be entitled to qualified immunity. We therefore affirm in part and reverse in part.

The Supreme Court of Georgia has recently reiterated how a trial court should treat a motion to dismiss:

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