Currid v. DeKalb State Court Probation Dep't

A jury question remained as to whether the county was grossly negligent, reckless or committed willful misconduct when it assigned the decedent to ride on the back of a garbage truck to fulfill his court-ordered community service without providing adequate safety equipment.

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Vincent Currid died after falling from a garbage truck while performing court-ordered community service for the DeKalb County Public Works Department. Currid’s estate and his father “Appellants” brought a wrongful death action against DeKalb County, its employees Vicki Carter and Harrison Hoskins, the Georgia Department of Corrections “DOC”, and its employee Mattie Gabriel. All the defendants moved for summary judgment. The trial court granted summary judgment on all claims to Carter, Gabriel and the DOC; granted summary judgment to DeKalb County, except to the extent the county waived immunity by purchasing an automobile liability insurance policy pursuant to OCGA § 33-24-51; and denied summary judgment to Hoskins. This appeal followed. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the grant of summary judgment to Carter, Gabriel and the DOC, but reverse the grant of summary judgment to DeKalb County. Summary judgment is proper where no genuine issue of material fact exists and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.1 “Once the movant has made a prima facie showing that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, the burden shifts to the respondent to come forward with rebuttal evidence.”2 “We apply a de novo standard of review to an appeal from a grant of summary judgment, and we view the evidence, and all reasonable conclusions and inferences drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the nonmovant.”3

Viewed in this light, the evidence shows that the State Court of DeKalb County sentenced Currid to 12 months probation and ordered him to serve 40 hours of community service as a condition of his probation. Currid initially met with both a DeKalb County probation officer and community services coordinator Vicki Carter to discuss his probation, and he signed a waiver of liability for injuries he might receive while performing community service.

Currid v. DeKalb State Court Probation Dep't

A jury question remained as to whether the county was grossly negligent, reckless or committed willful misconduct when it assigned the decedent to ride on the back of a garbage truck to fulfill his court-ordered community service without providing adequate safety equipment.

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