Pate v. Turner County, 63909
| Decision Date | 12 May 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 63909,63909 |
| Citation | 162 Ga.App. 463,291 S.E.2d 400 |
| Parties | PATE et al. v. TURNER COUNTY, Georgia. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
George R. Reinhardt, Bob Reinhardt, Tifton, for appellants.
F. Thomas Young, Valdosta, Edmund A. Landau, Jr., Albany, J. Harvey Davis, Ocilla, Hugh Wilson, Ashburn, Clarence Miller, Sylvester, Ray Holland, Ashburn, for appellee.
J. W. Pate and his wife brought suit against the cities of Ashburn, Rebecca and Sycamore and Turner County alleging that Pate had been seriously and permanently injured as a result of being struck by a Caterpillar sanitary landfill compactor operated by an employee of the four governmental units at a landfill in Turner County. Pate appeals from the grant of summary judgment in favor of the City of Ashburn and Turner County. Held :
The trial court found that the City of Ashburn and Turner County have sovereign immunity and that their immunity was not waived as provided in Code Ann. § 56-2437 because a Caterpillar landfill compactor is not a motor vehicle as contemplated by that code section as it is a specialty piece of equipment for landfill use and not for use on the public highways.
As city garbage services are considered to be a governmental rather than a ministerial function, City of Brunswick v. Volpian, 67 Ga.App. 654, 21 S.E.2d 442 (1942), it logically follows that the operation of a sanitary landfill in which to dispose of garbage is also a governmental function of a municipality. Thus, the governmental entities involved enjoy sovereign immunity as to this function unless it is waived as provided by law.
Code Ann. § 2-6302 provides that the governing authority of a county is authorized to purchase liability insurance to cover damages caused by a county owned motor vehicle and thereby waive its sovereign immunity to the extent of the insurance coverage. Code § 56-2437 contains a similar provision for a municipal corporation, county or other political subdivision of the state. The depositions and copies of insurance policies contained in the record show that the landfill compactor was not listed as a vehicle for which liability insurance was purchased. However, as we do not believe that a municipality can selectively choose which motor vehicles it will insure, the question becomes whether the sanitary landfill compactor is a motor vehicle within the meaning of the statutes. Neither Code Sections 2-6302 nor 56-2437 define a "motor vehicle." Under the Georgia Motor Vehicle Accident Reparations Act, Code Ann. § 56-3402b(a), a "motor vehicle" is defined as a "vehicle having more than three load bearing wheels, of a kind required to be registered under the laws of this State relating to motor vehicles designed primarily for operation upon the public streets, roads and highways, and driven by power other than muscular power, and includes a trailer...
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Simmons v. Coweta County
...§ 33-24-51(b), a tractor is a motor vehicle. Crider v. Zurich Ins. Co., supra at 179-180, 474 S.E.2d 89; see also Pate v. Turner County, 162 Ga.App. 463, 291 S.E.2d 400 (1982); Travelers Indem. Co. v. Whalley Constr. Co., 160 Ga.App. 438, 287 S.E.2d 226 Because an inmate is serving time and......
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Glass v. Gates
...government entity. See McDuffie v. Coweta County, 299 Ga.App. 500, 503(1), 682 S.E.2d 609 (2009). Compare Pate v. Turner County, 162 Ga.App. 463, 463–464, 291 S.E.2d 400 (1982) (landfill compactor with metal wheels that required it to be driven on soil or dirt rather than a hard surface suc......
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Crider v. Zurich Ins. Co.
...concurs fully and specially. BEASLEY, Chief Judge, concurring specially. I concur fully but wish to distinguish Pate v. Turner County, 162 Ga.App. 463, 291 S.E.2d 400 (1982), upon which case both appellees rely. The backhoe, which was being operated by a driver on a public roadway for the p......
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Bd. of Comm'rs of Glynn Cnty. v. Johnson
...public roads, there could be no waiver of Glynn County's sovereign immunity pursuant to OCGA § 33–24–51. See Pate v. Turner County, 162 Ga.App. 463, 463–464, 291 S.E.2d 400 (1982) (landfill compactor with metal wheels that could only be driven on soil or dirt rather than a hard surface such......