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McLambv.Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah

CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
Docket No.S26G0149
DecidedAugust 11, 2026
Reporter306 Ga. 191
JudgesPeterson, C.J., for a unanimous Court
Tags
CivilTort LawGovernment LawPremises LiabilityStatutory InterpretationOCGA § 51-3-23Vacatur
Case Summary

Gloria McLamb, a tourist, tripped on a raised paver while walking along a sidewalk in Savannah’s National Historic Landmark District after a trolley tour and sued the city. The Court of Appeals held the city immune under the Recreational Property Act, which removes a landowner’s duty of care when it opens property to the public without charge for recreational purposes, emphasizing McLamb’s testimony that she was sightseeing and looking up at a tree when she fell. The Supreme Court of Georgia reaffirmed the test from Mercer University v. Stofer, which asks about the true scope and nature of the landowner’s invitation by examining the nature of the activity the public was invited to do and the nature of the property, and it declined the city’s request to limit or overrule that decision. The Court held that the activity inquiry focuses primarily on what the public was generally invited to do on the property, not on what the injured plaintiff happened to be doing at the moment of injury, which is at most one circumstance to consider. Because the Court of Appeals treated McLamb’s own sightseeing as dispositive, it misapplied the test. The Court vacated and remanded for a proper application of Stofer, noting that the lower court may also revisit whether the sidewalk was recreational property and leaving open questions about government owners and a city’s ministerial duty to maintain sidewalks.

Opinion

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