This Court granted a writ of certiorari to the Court of Appeals to consider whether that Court properly determined that a municipality’s motor vehicle liability coverage secured through an interlocal risk management agency is not statutorily obligated to satisfy the requirements for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage that are applied to commercial insurance policies and private self-insurance plans. See Georgia Interlocal Risk Management Agency v. Godfrey , 305 Ga. App. 130 699 SE2d 377 2010. Finding that the Court of Appeals reached the correct conclusion, we affirm. This case arises from an automobile collision in which Daniel Godfrey, a police officer employed by the City of Newnan, was driving a City police car when it was struck by a motor vehicle owned and operated by Hural Henderson, who had $25,000 of motor vehicle liability coverage. The City of Newnan had a Member Coverage Agreement the “Agreement” with the Georgia Interlocal Risk Management Agency “GIRMA”, established under OCGA § 36-85-1 et seq. Godfrey and his wife sued Henderson in tort, and served a copy of the complaint on GIRMA to notify GIRMA that it might be held responsible as an uninsured motorist carrier pursuant to OCGA § 33-7-11.1 GIRMA filed a declaratory judgment action to determine its obligation to provide such coverage, contending that the Agreement did not contemplate the underinsured coverage the Godfreys sought.2 The trial court found that the coverage provided by GIRMA was, for the purposes of OCGA § 33-7-11, the equivalent of an insurance policy. As a consequence, the trial court ruled, GIRMA was required to provide the Godfreys, as defined “members” under the Agreement, the opportunity to select or reject uninsured motorist coverage up to the limits of liability under the GIRMA contract, and, as that opportunity had not been accorded, GIRMA was obligated to provide uninsured motorist protection up to the limits of the Agreement, which was $1,000,000. See Flewellen v. Atlanta Casualty Co. , 250 Ga. 709, 713 3 300 SE2d 673 1983. On appeal, the Court of Appeals found no authority for the conclusion that an interlocal risk management program such as that offered by GIRMA must include UM coverage pursuant to OCGA § 33-7-11, and reversed.
The Godfreys contend that the Agreement is governed by all statutes pertaining to private motor vehicle insurance contracts, and argue that the Court of Appeals “went astray” in analyzing this situation in the context of sovereign immunity. But, GIRMA and its liability coverage contracts, and the requirements imposed thereon by statute, exist solely in the context of sovereign immunity, and the statutory waiver thereof.
