Opinion ID: 654282
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Summary Judgment for Billy Ray Brown

Text: 12 Under Georgia law, whether the sovereign immunity of a county extends to a county employee depends on whether the employee's alleged negligent acts are ministerial or discretionary in nature; a county employee may be liable for the negligent performance of a ministerial act, but is entitled to immunity for the negligent failure to perform a discretionary duty. 26 A ministerial act is  'one that is simple, absolute, and definite, arising under conditions admitted or proved to exist, and requiring merely the execution of a specific duty.'  27 A discretionary act, on the other hand,  'calls for the exercise of personal deliberation and judgment, which in turn entails examining the facts, reaching reasoned conclusions, and acting on them in a way not specifically directed.'  28 Whether the acts of a public official are ministerial or discretionary is determined by the facts of the particular case. 29 13 Brown's allegedly negligent acts in failing to erect and maintain appropriate barricades and signs at the termination of county road 77 are very similar to the negligent acts at issue in Joyce v. Van Arsdale. In Joyce, the county commissioners had decided to close, rather than repair, a bridge. The commissioners instructed Van Arsdale, the county road superintendent, to take the necessary steps to close the bridge. Van Arsdale delegated the responsibility for closing the bridge to Grimes, the assistant road superintendent and supervisor of a work crew. Grimes and his crew constructed a barricade and posted signs along the highway leading to the closed bridge. The plaintiff was injured when she drove her automobile across the bridge and hit the barricade, which had been partially dismantled. The trial court held that Van Arsdale and Grimes were entitled to sovereign immunity. The Georgia Court of Appeals reversed. The court held that the acts of Van Arsdale and Grimes with respect to the closing of the bridge were ministerial in nature because these two officials were carrying out a specific task which became necessary after the discretionary decision making body, the commission, made the decision to allocate county funds to close the bridge rather than repair it. 30 The Court of Appeals explained: 14 Should the county decide when a street should be opened, closed, or repaired, or when a sewer should be built, it is clearly exercising legislative or judicial functions, but when it engages in the work of opening, closing, or repairing a street, or building a sewer, and is thus engaged in the physical execution of the work, it is evidently in the discharge of duties purely of a ministerial nature. It follows that the actual progress of such work by a county is of a ministerial character, and that the duties of a road supervisor in carrying out the physical details of the work are likewise ministerial in nature.... Although Grimes' acts undoubtedly involved the exercise of some judgment in determining how large the barriers should be and where they should be placed, the execution of a specific task is characterized as ministerial even though the manner in which it is accomplished is left to the employee's discretion. Accordingly, [Van Arsdale and Grimes] may be held liable if the evidence shows they negligently performed or supervised this work or that they had a duty to inspect the previously erected barricade but were negligent in the performance of this obligation, and summary judgment was thus not appropriate. 31 15 Applying the reasoning of the Georgia Court of Appeals in Joyce, we find that Brown's allegedly negligent acts in connection with the erection of barricades and signs on county road 77 are ministerial in nature. The county, working with the railroad, made the decision that the bridge would be removed, and the county agreed to furnish the necessary barricades and signs to indicate that the road was closed. Brown was then charged with carrying out the specific task, that is, the erection of barricades and signs, made necessary by the county's discretionary decision. This specific task, like the task for which Van Arsdale and Grimes were responsible in Joyce, is of a ministerial character. The final sentence in the quotation from Joyce above leads us to conclude that Brown's duty, if any, to inspect and maintain the barricades and signs is also of a ministerial character. This conclusion is reinforced by the Georgia Supreme Court's decision in Nelson v. Spalding County, which, like this case, involved a tort claim against a county official responsible for the county roads. In reversing the trial court's determination that the official was entitled to sovereign immunity, the Georgia Supreme Court specifically held: The act of replacing and repairing signs is ministerial and not discretionary in its nature. 32 Accordingly, under Georgia law as articulated in Joyce and Nelson, Brown's allegedly negligent acts in erecting and failing to maintain the barricades and signs on county road 77 are ministerial in nature. 16 Defendants rely on Gregory v. Cardenaz, 33 in which the Georgia Court of Appeals held that the alleged failure on the part of county deputy sheriffs to repair a downed stop sign was a discretionary act. There is no indication in the Gregory opinion that the deputy sheriffs had any responsibility for the repair or replacement of stop signs. While a deputy sheriff without such responsibility may have discretion as to how to respond to a downed stop sign, the county official responsible for roadway signs is without discretion; he is charged with the ministerial duty of repairing or replacing the sign. Accordingly, Gregory is inapposite. Defendants also rely on a number of cases that stand for the proposition that the decision by a governmental entity as to whether to erect and maintain a traffic control sign is discretionary. 34 None of these cases involve the erection of barricades or signs as a result of the closing of a roadway. Moreover, the Georgia courts have distinguished between the maintenance of traffic control devices and the maintenance of safe streets; the maintenance of safe streets has been held to be ministerial in nature. 35 Thus, these cases are not inconsistent with Joyce,Nelson, and our conclusion in this case that Brown's allegedly negligent acts are ministerial in nature. 17 Accordingly, we hold that Brown's allegedly negligent acts in connection with the erection and maintenance of barricades and signs on county road 77 are of a ministerial character; thus, Brown is not entitled to the defense of sovereign immunity as to plaintiffs' claims seeking recovery for these allegedly negligent acts. The district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Brown.