The issue raised in this granted interlocutory appeal is whether OCGA § 50-21-28, which provides that venue under the Georgia Tort Claims Act GTCA1 is in the county where the loss occurred, is unconstitutional because it conflicts with the joint tortfeasor venue provision of the Georgia Constitution.2 We conclude that the rationale of our decisions in Campbell v. Dept. of Corrections3 and Glover v. Donaldson4 requires that we hold that the venue limitation set forth in OCGA § 50-21-28 is constitutional because it is a valid exercise of the General Assembly’s constitutional authority to set the conditions of the State’s waiver of sovereign immunity.
The appellant, Brenda Dean, is the surviving spouse of Charles Dean and administratrix of his estate. In January 1997, Charles Dean died as a result of an accident that occurred while he was driving his pick-up truck in Pickens County, Georgia. Ms. Dean filed the present action against Tabsum, Inc., J.M. Huber Corporation, and the Georgia Department of Transportation the “DOT”. The complaint alleged, among other things, that Tabsum and Huber, which own commercial property along the highway where the accident occurred, had negligently caused a dangerous area of standing water to accumulate on that part of the highway, and that the DOT had negligently designed the drainage system where the highway in question intersected the driveway of Tabsum’s and Huber’s property. Ms. Dean initially filed the action in Fulton State Court, based upon her belief that Tabsum and Huber had their registered offices there. When Ms. Dean learned that Tabsum and Huber had their registered offices in Cobb County, she moved the Fulton State Court to transfer the case to Cobb County. The DOT, however, filed its own motion to transfer, contending that the Tort Claims Act placed venue of the action in Pickens County, where the loss occurred. See OCGA § 50-21-28.5 The Fulton State Court granted the DOT’s motion to transfer. Ms. Dean then filed a motion in Pickens Superior Court for the case to be transferred to Cobb County State Court. She contended that Art. 6, Sec. 2, Para. 4 of the Georgia Constitution6 permitted her to file the action in the county of residence of any of the joint tortfeasors, and that the constitutional provision took priority over the statutory venue provision of the Tort Claims Act. The Pickens Superior Court denied Ms. Dean’s motion, ruling that § 50-21-28 controlled over the joint tortfeasor venue provision “because the waiver of immunity contained in the Tort Claims Act is expressly conditioned on the venue limitation of OCGA § 50-21-28 and is a term and condition upon which the State has consented to be sued. Campbell v. Dept. of Corrections, 268 Ga. 408 490 SE2d 99 1997.” The trial court certified its order for immediate review, and this appeal stems from the grant of Ms. Dean’s application for interlocutory appeal.
