Sadler v. Department of Transp. of the State of Ga.

The design-standards exception to the waiver of sovereign immunity applied to the plaintiffs' claims against the Georgia DOT because the plans and designs for the intersection where the traffic accident occurred complied with the engineering and design standards in effect when it was completed.

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This appeal follows the trial court’s dismissal of four complaints filed against the Georgia Department of Transportation “GDOT” following a traffic accident in which Connie Sadler and Ana Pellerin were tragically killed and in which Peggy Sadler Daley and Dacia Mitchell were seriously injured collectively “the plaintiffs”.1 The trial court granted GDOT’s motion to dismiss based upon the plaintiffs’ failure to show a waiver of sovereign immunity. For the reasons noted infra , we affirm. The record shows that in 2005, Peggy Sadler Daley was driving home with three family members in her vehicle: her sister, Connie, in the passenger seat; her 6-month old daughter, Ana, restrained in the rear passenger-side seat; and her 3-year-old daughter, Dacia, restrained in the rear driver-side seat. In order to reach her home, Daley had to pass through the intersection of Cassidy Road and the North Thomasville Highway Bypass/Georgia State Highway 38 in Thomas County. The two lanes of Cassidy Road cross over a four-lane bypass, which is divided by a median and turn lanes. The bypass is flanked by stop-signs on either side of Cassidy Road and white, painted stop-bars within the median.

Daley testified below that on the afternoon in question, she stopped at the stop-sign on Cassidy Road before entering the median of the bypass, and that once she entered the median, she stopped at the painted stop-bar to assess the amount of oncoming traffic before proceeding across the remainder of the bypass.2 According to Daley, a white car in a left-hand turn lane partially blocked her view of oncoming traffic while she was stopped; nevertheless, Daley’s sister helped her to determine when it was safe to proceed across the remainder of the bypass. Unfortunately, as Daley exited the median, her vehicle was struck on the passenger-side by an oncoming pick-up truck.3 As a result of this collision, Daley’s sister and youngest daughter were tragically killed, and Daley and her older daughter were seriously injured.

Sadler v. Department of Transp. of the State of Ga.

The design-standards exception to the waiver of sovereign immunity applied to the plaintiffs' claims against the Georgia DOT because the plans and designs for the intersection where the traffic accident occurred complied with the engineering and design standards in effect when it was completed.

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