Columbia County and Clay N. Whittle, in his official capacity as Sheriff of Columbia County “the county defendants”, appeal from an order of the Superior Court of Richmond County denying their motion for summary judgment. The superior court found that plaintiff John J. Branton’s claims were not barred by his failure to serve a timely ante litem notice because the time for filing the ante litem notice had been tolled. We granted the county defendants’ application for interlocutory appeal to consider whether the superior court erred in concluding that OCGA § § 9-3-96 and 9-3-99 applied under the circumstances of this case to toll the time for filing the ante litem notice. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the order of the superior court. To prevail at summary judgment under OCGA § 9-11-56, the moving party must demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the undisputed facts, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, warrant judgment as a matter of law. A defendant may do this by showing the court that the documents, affidavits, depositions and other evidence in the record reveal that there is no evidence sufficient to create a jury issue on at least one essential element of plaintiff’s case. We review de novo a trial court’s grant of summary judgment. Citations and punctuation omitted. Jones v. City of Willacoochee , 299 Ga. App. 741 683 SE2d 683 2009. So viewed, the record reveals the following relevant facts. On June 4, 2006, the plaintiff’s wife, Margaret Branton, was killed in an automobile collision that occurred in Columbia County. The collision occurred when Tiara Smith, a shoplifter who was fleeing the scene of her crime, sped through a red light and collided with the car in which Mrs. Branton was a passenger.
A Columbia County Sheriff’s deputy, Kenny Curtis, saw Smith’s black Ford Explorer speed by him as he was riding his motorcycle in the opposite direction. Deputy Curtis activated his lights and siren, turned around, and followed the vehicle. Deputy Curtis deposed that he did not know whether Smith had seen him. No one monitoring radio traffic heard Deputy Curtis say he was engaged in “a pursuit.” When deputy Curtis finally caught up to Smith, the collision had already occurred.
