Joseph and Carole Sterling, individually and as administrators of the estate of their deceased son, Daniel Sterling, filed this wrongful death suit against Mike Donnalley and the Cobb County School District.1 The trial court subsequently granted summary judgment on the Sterlings’ tort claims, finding that Donnalley and the District were shielded from liability on the grounds of sovereign and official immunity. But the trial court denied the motion as to the Sterlings’ breach of contract claim, and Donnalley and the District appeal that holding. Because we find as a matter of law that Daniel Sterling was not intended as a third-party beneficiary under the contract at issue, we reverse. Summary judgment is proper where the movant demonstrates that “there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the undisputed facts, viewed in a light most favorable to the nonmovant, warrant judgment as a matter of law.” Footnote omitted. SunTrust Bank v. Merritt , 272 Ga. App. 485, 486 612 SE2d 818 2005. This Court reviews the trial court’s ruling on the motion for summary judgment de novo. Id.
Here, the evidence shows that in 1999, Donnalley was the head football coach at Wheeler High School in Cobb County. In August 1999, the Wheeler High School football team traveled to the Athens YMCA Camp in Tallulah Falls, Georgia for a three-day training camp. On the first day of camp, Daniel Sterling, along with several teammates, was riding a “zip line” into the camp’s lake. The boys would drop off into the lake from the zip line and swim either to the dock or to the shore. The campers were supervised by Steve Brown, an assistant football coach, who was standing on a dock approximately 30 feet away. Brown had been entrusted with responsibility for patrolling the lake for the three years Wheeler High had held the football camp at the Athens “Y” Camp. In the past, Brown had undergone CPR, lifesaving and water rescue instruction and had been certified to teach first aid, but he had never received a certificate in lifesaving or water rescue.
