Angela Stopanio sued the Georgia Department of Transportation and road-work contractors after she was injured and her parents died when their vehicle struck guardrails and a bridge support on Interstate 75. The trial court dismissed the claims against the Department for failure to provide timely ante litem notice and granted the contractors summary judgment under Georgia’s acceptance doctrine. The Georgia Court of Appeals vacated the dismissal against the Department and remanded for reconsideration. A pending criminal investigation arising from the collision could toll the statutory notice period under the court’s precedent, and the trial court had applied an incorrect legal framework in rejecting that argument. The court affirmed the contractors’ summary judgment. The acceptance doctrine barred claims based on work completed under the Department’s direction and accepted before the collision, and the record showed no hidden defect or other exception, including no evidence that installing the guardrails was inherently dangerous. The judgment was therefore affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded with direction.