Court Opinion

ID: 9846760
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:48:00.804091+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:48.054486
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
On motion for rehearing, the Board of Regents does not disagree that its powers and duties as they existed in 1943 are preserved in the Constitution. The Board does contend that in 1943 it had sovereign immunity because Tounsel v. State Hwy. Dept., 180 Ga. 112 (178 SE 285) (1935), had the effect of overruling First Dist. Agricultural &c. School v. Reynolds, 11 Ga. App. 650 (75 SE 1060) (1912), prior to 1943. See also Medical College of Ga. v. Rushing, 1 Ga. App. 468 (57 *74SE 1083) (1907).
Tounsel took a Code section applicable to counties (§ 23-1502: “A county is not liable to suit for any cause of action unless made so by statute”) and applied it to the Highway Department. In doing so, the court pointed out that the Highway Department was not a body politic or a corporation (180 Ga. at 116), and that the state derived no profit from the Highway Department (180 Ga. 119). The Board of Regents on the other hand charges for its services and, in fact, Jessica McCafferty was a paying patient at Talmadge Memorial Hospital. In Knowles v. Housing Authority, 212 Ga. 729, 734 (95 SE2d 659) (1956), this court distinguished Tounsel, as we do again today, on the basis that the Highway Department was performing a governmental function for which it made no charge and received no income or revenue.
Tounsel did not overrule First District Agricultural &c. School v. Reynolds or Medical College of Ga. v. Rushing, supra.

Motion for rehearing denied.

All the Justices concur, except Jordan, C. J., Marshall and Weltner, JJ., who dissent.