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Phillips v. Walls

County transportation employees had official immunity against plaintiffs' suit for their children's deaths on a county road, since plaintiffs presented no evidence that employees negligently inspected the road.

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These actions arose from a car wreck in which two children died. The wreck occurred when a truck driver ran the stop sign at an intersection of county and state roads, crashing into a van in which the two children were riding. The parents of the deceased children sued and then settled with the truck driver, truck owner, van driver, van owner, and the Georgia Department of Transportation. The parents also sued the four Barrow County employees who are parties to this appeal and the truck driver’s employers. The trial court granted summary judgment to the truck driver’s employers, leaving only the four Barrow County employees as defendants. The truck driver’s employers are not parties to this appeal. The appellants in these companion cases appeal the grant of summary judgment to the defendant county employees. We affirm on the grounds that two of the employees are entitled to official immunity, and two of the employees are entitled to summary judgment based on the evidence presented to the trial court.

The complaint alleged that the four county employees negligently failed to inspect the county road on which the truck driver was traveling. A proper inspection, the plaintiffs contend, would have revealed that vegetation obscured “any traffic control devices on the road.” The only traffic control device addressed in the summary judgment motion was a “stop ahead” sign. The complaint further alleges that the defendants failed to monitor the accident history of the intersection, contrary to established conventions. The complaint only identifies the four defendants by name; it does not indicate whether they are being sued in their individual or official capacities.

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