State Road And Tollway Authorityv.Catrina Deese Bodamer
The State Road and Tollway Authority sought to recover unpaid Georgia Highway 400 tolls, administrative fees, and civil penalties from Catrina Bodamer. Bodamer counterclaimed that she had not received notice of the administrative proceedings and sought judicial review under the Georgia Administrative Procedure Act. The superior court denied the Authority’s motion to dismiss. The Court of Appeals vacated and remanded because the record lacked a transcript of the hearing and the Authority had raised sovereign immunity for the first time on appeal. The court held that sovereign immunity is jurisdictional and is not waived merely because a party failed to raise it in the trial court. It also explained that, without a transcript, appellate review could not resolve what arguments and findings were presented below. The trial court therefore had to reconsider the jurisdictional and statutory issues on a complete record. The opinion leaves the administrative-review and notice questions open for that proceeding.
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