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Hartleyv.Agnes Scott College

CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
Docket No.S13G1152
DecidedJune 16, 2014
Reporter295 Ga. 458, 759 S.E.2d 857
JudgesSupreme Court of Georgia; Justice Nahmias authored the opinion
Tags
CivilTort LawGovernment LawCivil ProcedureSovereign ImmunityOfficial ImmunityStatutory InterpretationReversal
Case Summary

Amanda Hartley sued Agnes Scott College and three campus police officers after the officers obtained arrest warrants based on a student’s allegedly fabricated accusations, causing Hartley to be arrested in Tennessee, extradited to Georgia, and detained until the charges were dismissed. The officers claimed immunity under the Georgia Tort Claims Act, arguing that the Campus Policemen Act made them state officers or employees. The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed the Court of Appeals. Reading the Tort Claims Act as an integrated statutory scheme, the Court held that immunity applies only to a person acting for an identified state government entity. Agnes Scott was a private corporation, and the complaint alleged that the officers acted within the scope of their employment for the college, not for a state entity. POST certification and statutory law-enforcement powers did not transform them into state employees; those features also apply to local officers who are not covered by the Act. The Court declined to decide the officers’ separate constitutional official-immunity argument because it had not been raised and developed below. The ruling addressed immunity only and left the underlying tort claims unresolved.

Opinion

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