Burtsv.City of Atlanta
Ashlee Burts sued the City of Atlanta after a collision with a City police vehicle and was met with a motion to dismiss based on the ante litem notice statute. Her follow-up notice offered to settle for the City's liability policy limits or $250,000, whichever was greater, and the City argued that this was not a sufficiently specific damages demand. The Court of Appeals of Georgia reversed the dismissal. It held that the notice stated one definite settlement amount, not two competing numbers, because the restrictive clause identified a single finite figure that the City itself could determine from its own insurance information. Given Georgia's substantial-compliance approach to municipal ante litem notices, the demand was specific enough to function as a valid offer of compromise.
Loading published copy…

