Georgia Dep't of Human Servs. v. Spruill

A DFCS caseworker's decision to not undress the 1-year-old twins who were allegedly neglected and malnourished in order to properly assess their condition constituted a discretionary function for which the State was protected from liability by sovereign immunity.

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As a general rule, the sovereign immunity of the State and its departments is waived by the Georgia Tort Claims Act for “the torts of state officers and employees . . . acting within the scope of their official duties or employment,” OCGA § 50-21-23 a, but there are exceptions to the general rule. See OCGA § 50-21-24 1-13. This case concerns one of these exceptions, commonly known as the “discretionary function” exception. See OCGA § 50-21-24 2. Here, the guardians of two infant boys sued the Department of Human Services DHS, alleging that the Clayton County Department of Family and Children Services DFCS was negligent in several respects in its investigation of a report that the boys were neglected by their parents.1 On the motion of DHS, the trial court dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the “discretionary function” exception properly applied, but the Court of Appeals disagreed, and it reversed the dismissal. Spruill v. Ga. Dept. of Human Svcs., 317 Ga. App. 226, 228 729 SE2d 654 2012. We issued a writ of certiorari to consider whether the “discretionary function” exception applies in this case, and concluding that it does, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals.

1. The record shows that twin boys—As. M. and Av. M.—were born premature to Jay McCart and Tessa Zelek on November 6, 2006. Almost a year later, on October 17, 2007, McCart and Zelek took the boys to their pediatrician for a routine examination. The pediatrician found that the boys were severely underweight,2 but he saw no sign that they were in acute distress, and he did not think it necessary at that point to contact DFCS about the boys. Instead, the pediatrician ordered some diagnostic tests to ascertain any medical causes of the failure of the boys to gain weight, and he explained to McCart and Zelek that, if these tests failed to explain the failure to thrive, the boys would have to be admitted to a hospital for further testing and observation.

Georgia Dep't of Human Servs. v. Spruill

A DFCS caseworker's decision to not undress the 1-year-old twins who were allegedly neglected and malnourished in order to properly assess their condition constituted a discretionary function for which the State was protected from liability by sovereign immunity.

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