Court Opinion

ID: 9624649
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:12:39.294878+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:52.061745
License: Public Domain

Jordan, Presiding Judge,
dissenting. 1. We proceed on the premise, requiring no citation, that an action against a State officer in his official capacity, and the agency which he heads, is tantamount to an action against the State, for application of the immunity doctrine, unless the State has consented to the action.
If the notice is a- rule within the definition of the Administrative Procedure Act the validity may be determined by declaratory judgment, where it is alleged that the rule or its threatened application interferes with the legal rights of the petitioner. § 11, Ga. L. 1964, pp. 338, 346; 1965, pp. 283, 288 (Code Ann. § 3A-111). Under this statute a rule includes a statement of general applicability that implements law, subject to listed exceptions including rules relating to loans, grants, and benefits by the State as an agency. See § 2 (f) and (f) 9 of the Act, (Code Ann. § 3A-102 (f) and (f) (9). In our opinion the effect of the Act cannot be avoided merely because a rule within the definition of the statute was not promulgated in accordance with other re*221quirements of the statute. We note with interest that the Commissioner has promulgated and revised rules for indemnity payments (but not the notice here under consideration) under the Administrative Procedure Act, citing the 1953 law, supra, as amended, as authority. See 1971 Hog Cholera Eradication Requirements, • Amended, Indemnity, 40-13-8-.03(5), Vol. 1, pp. 668, 669, Official Compilation, Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, which became effective April 20, 1970, superseding the former rules, 40-13-8-.03(6), as published on pp. 525 et seq. The revision eliminates indemnity "in any outbreak of hog cholera where garbage has been fed.” The notice here involved obviously implemented "Georgia Laws (House Bill No. 598, 1953)”, i.e., Ga. L. 1953, p. 480; Code Ann. Ch. .62-17, which authorizes eradication programs (§ 21, Code 'Ann. §62-1718) and the payment of indemnity (§22; Code Ann. §62-1719) for the destruction of livestock to eradicate infectious and contagious diseases.
But is a rule in implementation of law relating to the payment of indemnity also a rule relating to loans, grants, and benefits by the State or an agency? The payment of indemnity in ordinary signification conveys the idea,of restitution, reimbursement or compensation for loss, damage, or injury. See Travelers Ins. Co. v. Ga. Power Co., 51 Ga. App. 579, 583 (181 SE 111). A loan, grant or benefit, in ordinary signification, does not convey the ide.a of payment to compensate for loss, damage, or injury. Compensating one for loss or damage to his property is reimbursement.
In our opinion the action here involved is one which states a claim for which relief may be granted, to which the State has consented under §11 of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Under the statute which the rule here involved implements, "the Commissioner of Agriculture may, if in any case he finds the feeding of garbage to be a source of such infection, make indemnity payments inapplicable to garbage feeders.” § 22, Ga. L. 1953, pp. 480, 487 (Code Ann. § 62-1719). It is unnecessary to determine whether this *222means that in any case where he finds the feeding of garbage by a particular feeder is a source of infection he may make the payment of indemnity inapplicable to that feeder, or whether the authority is broader, for in any event he is required to make a determination that the feeding of garbage is a source of infection. The former rules as promulgated in the Official Compilation, cited supra, clearly create the implication that each case will be treated individually, with any payment contingent upon the availability of funds. The notice involved in the present appeal, however, makes it clear that all indemnity payments to garbage feeders were discontinued, effective December 18, 1968, not because of any finding that garbage feeding is a source of cholera infection, but merely because of continued outbreaks of the disease in Georgia. This blanket suspension for the reason stated clearly exceeds the authority conferred by the statute; and is, in effect, an abdication of responsibility under the statute.
I am authorized to state that Judge Quillian concurs in this dissent.