Camp v. Coweta County

In his suit pursuant to the Georgia Tort Claims Act GTCA for damages suffered while in the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections, assigned to the Coweta County Correctional Institute, David Lamar Camp appeals from the trial court’s grant of the county defendants’1 motion to open default and grant of the Georgia Department of Correction’s motion to dismiss.2 Camp alleged that, on August 27, 2002, while participating on a mandatory work detail at the Coweta County Fairgrounds, he was required to climb scaffolding next to a building under construction. He fell, landed on rocks, and was seriously injured.

On the date of the injury, the county and its employees were insured by St. Paul Insurance Company. On May 19, 2003, Mitchell Powell, county attorney for Coweta County, received a copy of Camp’s complaint from the Sheriff. The county commissioners were not personally served. Instead, copies of the complaint were served upon the county administrator. On May 19, 2003, Powell’s employee sent a copy of the complaint to Smith Lanier, the insurance broker for the county. On May 20, 2003, Lanier’s employee Folts sent a copy of the complaint to St. Paul Insurance Company for handling and assignment of defense counsel. In January 2003, Folts had forwarded to St. Paul a copy of Camp’s ante litem letter, which was assigned a claim number and adjuster by St. Paul. Folts called St. Paul’s Claims Service Center and was told that the complaint sent on May 20 had been received.