Court Opinion

ID: 9927171
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-01-26 15:02:57.873934+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:24:04.902712
License: Public Domain

Court of Appeals
of the State of Georgia

                                          ATLANTA,____________________
                                                   January 26, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A23A1460. MONTGOMERY COUNTY v. ROUNTREE et al.

       The appellees sued Toombs County, Montgomery County, and others in
Toombs County Superior Court for injuries stemming from a collision with an
ambulance operated by Toombs-Montgomery Emergency Medical Services. The
appellant, Montgomery County, moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that
under OCGA § 36-92-4 (g), the appellees had to bring their lawsuit in Montgomery
County instead of Toombs County as a condition of Montgomery County’s waiver of
sovereign immunity. That subsection provides, “As a condition of the waiver of
sovereign immunity . . ., all tort actions filed against a local government entity . . .,
including any action filed against a local government entity as a joint tort-feasor, shall
be brought in the state or superior court of the county wherein the local government
entity resides.”

        The appellees argue on appeal that, in spite of the language of OCGA § 36-92-4
(g), the joint-tortfeasor venue provision of the Georgia Constitution, Art. VI, § II,
Para. IV (“Suits against . . . joint tort-feasors . . . residing in different counties may be
tried in either county.”), allows them to sue Montgomery County in Toombs County.
Although they did not name this constitutional provision below, at the hearing on the
motion to dismiss, they argued that, “The Joint Tortfeasor Act . . . allows this lawsuit
to be brought in the residence of one of the tortfeasors.”

       The trial court denied the motion to dismiss, holding, among other things, that:

       As to the argument of OCGA § 36-92-4 requiring any action against the
      Montgomery County Defendants to be tried in the county where the
      governmental entity resides, the Georgia Constitution contains a specific
      venue provision for suits involving joint tortfeasors. See Ga. Const. of
      1983, Art. VI, Sec. [II], Par. IV. . . . Additionally, it is well established
      that “if a statutory rule contradicts a constitutional rule, the
      constitutional rule prevails.” Carpenter v. McMann, 304 Ga. 209, 211
      (2018).

       Our Supreme Court “has exclusive jurisdiction over all cases involving
construction of the Constitution of the State of Georgia and of the United States and
all cases in which the constitutionality of a law, ordinance, or constitutional provision
has been called into question.” Atlanta Independent School System v. Lane, 266 Ga. 657,
657 (1) (469 SE2d 22) (1996). Because the trial court held, in essence, that
Montgomery County’s reading of OCGA § 36-92-4 (g) would violate the joint-
tortfeasor venue provision of the Georgia Constitution, jurisdiction over this appeal
may lie in the Supreme Court. As the Supreme Court has the ultimate responsibility
for determining appellate jurisdiction, see Saxton v. Coastal Dialysis & Med. Clinic, 267
Ga. 177, 178 (476 SE2d 587) (1996), this appeal is hereby TRANSFERRED to the
Supreme Court for disposition.

                                         Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia
                                           Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________
                                                                       01/26/2024
                                                    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.