Court of Appeals

of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A16I0127. GWINNETT COUNTY et al. v. JOHN NEWTON.

John Newton filed this civil action against Gwinnett County and the Gwinnett

County Sheriff in his official capacity. Newton asserted that he was entitled to

damages for injuries he sustained while being unloaded from a bus that had

transported him from the Gwinnett County Jail to the Gwinnett County Justice

Center. The defendants moved to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim

upon which relief can be granted, on the ground that Newton’s claims are barred by

sovereign immunity. The trial courtsummarily denied the motion to dismiss without

explanation. The courtsubsequently certified its order for immediate review, and the

defendants filed this application for interlocutory appeal.

Ordinarily, the denial of a motion to dismiss is an interlocutory order, and can

be appealed only through the interlocutory appeal procedure. See OCGA § 5-6-34

(b). Under the collateral order doctrine,1however, a direct appeal may be had from

“an order that denies a motion to dismiss, based on a conclusive determination that

the State (or a state officer or employee) is not immune from suit on the basis of

sovereign immunity.” Bd. of Regents v. Canas, 295 Ga. App. 505, 507 (1) (672 SE2d

471) (2009). This proposition is based on the principle that “sovereign immunity is

1 Under this doctrine, an interlocutory order may be appealed directly if it:

“(1) resolves an issue that issubstantially separate from the basic issuesto be decided

at trial, (2) would result in the loss of an important right if review had to await final

judgment, and (3) completely and conclusively decides the issue on appeal.” Britt v.

State, 282 Ga. 746, 748 (1) (653 SE2d 713) (2007) (punctuation omitted).

February 16, 2016
an immunity from suit, rather than a mere defense to liability, and is effectively lost

if a case is erroneously permitted to go to trial.” Id.

Here, the sole basis for the defendants’ motion to dismiss was that they are

immune from suit based on the facts alleged in Newton’s complaint. The trial court’s

summary denial of this motion thus conclusively determined that the defendants are

not entitled to sovereign immunity from suit arising out of those factual allegations. 

See Liberty County School Dist. v. Halliburton, 328 Ga. App. 422, 425-426 (2) (762

SE2d 138) (2014) (holding that the defendants were entitled to a direct appeal from

the denial of their motion to dismiss based on sovereign immunity, notwithstanding

the trial court’s failure to explain its ruling); see also Dept. of Transp. v. Jarvie, 329

Ga. App. 681, 682, n. 2 (766 SE2d 94) (2014) (concluding that the trial court’s onesentence order denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss based on sovereign

immunity was directly appealable). “This Court will grant a timely application for

interlocutory review if the order complained of is subject to direct appeal and the

applicants have not otherwise filed a notice of appeal.” Spivey v. Hembree, 268 Ga.

App. 485, 486, n. 1 (602 SE2d 246) (2004).

Accordingly, this application for interlocutory appeal is hereby GRANTED. 

The defendants shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of

appeal in the trial court, if one has not already been filed. The trial court clerk is

instructed to include a copy of this order in the appellate record.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________

I certify that the above is a true extract from

the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Witness my signature and the seal of said court

hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.

02/16/2016