GA Code § 20-2-1090 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 20 - Education|Chapter 2 - Elementary and Secondary Education|Article 22 - School Buses|Part 2 - Insurance|§ 20-2-1090. Accident Insurance for Children on School Buses

 The various school boards of the counties, cities, and independent school systems employing school buses are authorized and required to cause policies of insurance to be issued insuring the school children riding therein to and from school against bodily injury or death at any time resulting from an accident or collision in which such buses are involved. The amount of such insurance shall be within the discretion of the respective boards.   (Ga. L. 1949, p. 1155, § 1.)   Law reviews.   - For survey article on insurance law, see 59 Mercer L. Rev. 195 (2007). For annual survey on local government law, see 71 Mercer L. Rev. 189 (2019).   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   Editor's notes.   - In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Code 1933, § 32-919, which was subsequently repealed but was succeeded by provisions in this Code section, are included in the annotations for this Code section.   Insurance authorized, but not required, for general public.    - While Ga. L. 1949, p. 1155, § 1 requires insurance to be taken out for the benefit of school children, Ga. L. 1949, p. 1155, § 3 merely authorizes that insurance be taken out for members of the general public, leaving this up to the board. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Jones, 98 Ga. App. 46, 104 S.E.2d 725 (1958).    This is accident insurance, not liability insurance, and the question of negligence is not involved. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Jones, 98 Ga. App. 46, 104 S.E.2d 725 (1958).    Regardless of the language of a contract of insurance covering the operation of school buses and taken out at the instance of school boards pursuant to this section, the insurance specially covering school children is accident insurance without regard to the negligence of anybody and the policy will, regardless of the policy's terms, be construed in accordance with this section. Jones v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 100 Ga. App. 727, 112 S.E.2d 323 (1959).   Sovereign immunity waived to extent of insurance coverage.    - In regard to a personal injury action arising from an accident involving a school bus, the school district waived sovereign immunity to the extent the district was covered by liability insurance. Coffee County Sch. Dist. v. King, 229 Ga. App. 143, 493 S.E.2d 563 (1997).   School authorities engaged in transporting children not liable for negligence.    - Transportation by authorities of a local school district, or the trustees of a local school district, of children to and from school by a motor bus makes accessible to the children the facilities of education authorized and provided for the children by law and is therefore a part of the operation of the school system, and the authorities, when engaged in this transportation, are in the operation of a governmental function and are therefore not liable in tort, either in the authorities official capacity, or as individuals, for any negligence, through themselves or the authorities' agents, in the operation by the authorities of the motor bus which causes injuries to one of the school children while being transported to and from school. Roberts v. Baker, 57 Ga. App. 733, 196 S.E. 104 (1938) (decided under former Code 1933, § 32-919).   Knowing employment of driver guilty of negligence not malice or willful and wanton conduct.    - Whether or not school authorities, in the operation of the school motor bus, notwithstanding that the authorities are engaged in the performance of a governmental function, would be liable for damages caused by the operation of the bus resulting from the authorities malicious acts or willful and wanton conduct in the operation of the bus, the employment by the authorities of a driver, who with their knowledge has been guilty of negligence or any conduct in the operation of the bus which caused injury to one of the passengers, does not constitute malice or willful and wanton conduct. Roberts v. Baker, 57 Ga. App. 733, 196 S.E. 104 (1938) (decided under former Code 1933, § 32-919).   Insurance for students injuring other students not required.    - O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1090 did not require a school board to insure against injuries to a student resulting from an attack by another student on a school bus. Payne v. Twiggs County Sch. Dist., 269 Ga. 361, 496 S.E.2d 690 (1998).   No provisions require policy permitting direct action against insurance company.    - There are no statutory provisions which require the county boards of education to obtain policies of insurance that permit a direct action by the person injured against the insurance company. Krasner v. American Guarantee & Liab. Ins. Co., 110 Ga. App. 468, 138 S.E.2d 921 (1964).    Insurance company writing insurance in compliance with provisions of this section may be sued directly on the contract of insurance by a member of the public who sustains damage to that individual's person or property resulting from the negligent operation of the school buses covered by the contract of insurance. Krasner v. Harper, 90 Ga. App. 128, 82 S.E.2d 267; American Guarantee & Liab. Ins. Co. v. Krasner, 211 Ga. 142, 84 S.E.2d 46 (1954).    When county or other boards of education take out the insurance described, the persons insured are beneficiaries; the beneficiaries' action is not against members of the school board, but is an action in contract directly against the insurance company on the theory of third-party beneficiaries. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Jones, 98 Ga. App. 46, 104 S.E.2d 725 (1958).   Denial of insurer's summary judgment motion not moot.    - In an action against an insurer to recover damages under a policy issued to a county board of education on behalf of a child injured by a backfiring school bus, the insurer's appeal from the denial of the insurer's motion for summary judgment was not rendered moot by the subsequent entry of a verdict and a judgment in favor of the child in a trial limited to damages; the denial of the motion could be reviewed under O.C.G.A. § 5-6-34(d) as part of the insurer's direct appeal from the final judgment because the trial court's determination in denying the motion that the policy's medical payments provision did not satisfy O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1090 and that the policy's liability provision provided the requisite coverage was not considered at trial. Coregis Ins. Co. v. Nelson, 282 Ga. App. 488, 639 S.E.2d 365 (2006).   No-fault coverage provided by policy's medical payments provision.    - In an action against an insurer to recover damages under a motor vehicle policy issued to a county board of education on behalf of a child injured by a backfiring school bus, the trial court erred in construing the policy's liability provision as providing the no-fault accident coverage mandated by O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1090 because the plain language of the policy showed that the policy's medical payments provision was intended to provide that coverage; the medical payments provision did not condition recovery on legal liability for damages, while the liability provision did impose such a condition on recovery, and if any coverage required by O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1090 was missing from the policy, the coverage should have been read into the medical payments provision rather than the liability provision. Coregis Ins. Co. v. Nelson, 282 Ga. App. 488, 639 S.E.2d 365 (2006).    County school board's insurer was entitled to summary judgment in an action to recover damages under the insurer's policy on behalf of a child burned by a backfiring school bus because the child received the complete benefit of O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1090 when the insurer paid the $5,000 limit of the policy's medical payments provision; that provision, and not a liability provision in the same policy with a coverage limit of $1 million, provided the no-fault coverage mandated by O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1090. Coregis Ins. Co. v. Nelson, 282 Ga. App. 488, 639 S.E.2d 365 (2006).   Waiver of sovereign immunity not included in statute.    - Trial court erred in finding that O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1090 waived the school district's sovereign immunity from the negligence claim brought by a student's grandmother because, even assuming that the student's injuries from being left on a bus resulted from an "accident" as required by the statute, the statute did not provide for a waiver of sovereign immunity or the extent of such immunity. Fulton County School District v. Jenkins, 347 Ga. App. 448, 820 S.E.2d 75 (2018).    Cited in Cotton States Mut. Ins. Co. v. Keefe, 215 Ga. 830, 113 S.E.2d 774 (1960); Cotton States Mut. Ins. Co. v. Tabor, 215 Ga. 884, 114 S.E.2d 24 (1960); General Accident, Fire & Life Assurance Corp. v. Fountain, 215 Ga. 897, 114 S.E.2d 120 (1960); Schaefer v. Mayor of Athens, 120 Ga. App. 301, 170 S.E.2d 339 (1969); Sheley v. Board of Pub. Educ., 132 Ga. App. 314, 208 S.E.2d 126 (1974); Rawls v. Bulloch County Sch. Dist., 223 Ga. App. 234, 477 S.E.2d 383 (1996); Payne ex rel. Gleaton v. Twiggs County Sch. Dist., 127 F.3d 1407 (11th Cir. 1997).   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   Local board cannot pay insurance premiums except under stated statutory conditions.   - It is clear that a local board of education cannot expend school money to pay the premiums on liability insurance except under the conditions and circumstances stated in Ga. L. 1949, p. 1155, §§ 1 and 2. 1957 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 116.   Medical payment policy must provide for bodily injury and death coverage.   - Ordinary medical payment insurance does not satisfy the requirement of this section unless the policy provides for both bodily injury and death coverage. 1960-61 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 164.   Section's requirements read into policy.   - When the provisions of a policy of insurance issued pursuant to this section read contrary to the requirements of this section, the requirements are read into the policy by operation of law. 1960-61 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 164.   District liable for injuries to extent that required insurance procured.   - School district is not liable in tort for injuries to students except to the extent that insurance has been procured therefor under Ga. L. 1949, p. 1155, §§ 1-5. 1960-61 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 166.   Local board not required to obtain insurance for students riding local transit authority buses.    - Local board of education is not required by O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1090 to obtain accident and medical insurance to cover school children traveling to and from school on buses operated by a local transit authority on regularly scheduled routes with other fee paying passengers, even if such transportation is pursuant to a contract between the local board of education and the local transit authority. 1989 Op. Att'y Gen. U89-11.   RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 68 Am. Jur. 2d, Schools, § 28.   C.J.S.   - 78 C.J.S., Schools and School Districts, § 687 et seq.   78A C.J.S., Schools and School Districts, § 1065.   ALR.    - Risks and causes of loss within liability policy covering transportation of school children, 154 A.L.R. 1102.   Tort liability of public schools and institutions of higher learning for accidents associated with the transportation of students, 23 A.L.R.5th 1.