Richmond County Hospital Authority v. McClain
| Decision Date | 09 September 1965 |
| Docket Number | No. 1,No. 41240,41240,1 |
| Citation | 112 Ga.App. 209,144 S.E.2d 565 |
| Parties | RICHMOND COUNTY HOSPITAL AUTHORITY v. Lucille McCLAIN |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Syllabus by the Court
A hospital authority is not a political subdivision of this State nor is it otherwise an 'employer' as that term is defined for purposes of workmen's compensation. The award of compensation in favor of an employee of the defendant authority was improper.
The Richmond County Hospital Authority, created by resolution of the County Commissioners of Richmond County, stipulated that the only issue in this workmen's compensation case was whether it was an employer under the Act so as to entitle one of its employees to an award in her favor for accidental injuries arising out of and in the course of the latter's employment. The deputy director hearing the case found in favor of the claimant, and the award was affirmed on appeal to the Superior Court of Richmond County.
Gould B. Hagler, Augusta, for plaintiff in error.
Harris, Chance, McCracken & Harrison, Henry T. Chance, Augusta, Henderson, Salley & Cushman, Julian B. Salley, Jr., Aiken, S. C., for defendant in error.
Under Code § 114-101, an employer for Workmen's Compensation purposes includes, as to governmental units, the State of Georgia, all departments and political divisions thereof, counties and municipalities. With certain stated exceptions it does not include any non-profit corporation. Public charities are explicitly excluded under Code § 114-107.
The Richmond County Hospital Authority is a public non-profit corporation. Code §§ 99-1502(a), 99-1506. The general rule is that an Authority, which is an agency of one or more participating governmental units created by statute for the specific purpose of having delegated to it certain functions governmental in character, is not a political subdivision unless recited to be so in the pertinent Constitutional or statutory instruments creating it. N.Y.Leg.Doc.Vol. 5 (1965) p. 63, 'Legal Character of the Public Authority'; 'Nature of Authorities', Encyclopedia of Ga.Law, Vol. 3, § 4, p. 8. The Hospital Authorities Law (Ga.L.1941, p. 241 et seq.; Code Chapter 99-15) has no such language. A cursory analysis of its structure indicates that it was intended to create public corporate agencies of the political subdivisions involved, managed by qualified persons appointed by the governing bodies of such political subdivisions, and having a corporate entity so as to be able to contract with them, but without power to tax or to elect officials and without any political geographic area. These latter characteristics are generally inherent in the concept of a political subdivision. Ty Ty Consolidated School District v. Colquitt Lumber Co., 153 Ga. 426(1), 112 S.E. 561. Chapter 99-15 makes frequent use of the term 'political subdivision', always in reference to the creating city, town, municipality or county, and never in connection with the Authority itself. The same careful distinction between the political subdivision as creator and the Authority as agent is observed in the Constitutional framework (Art. VII, Sec. VI) authorizing the establishment of authorities for specified purposes. Code § 2-5901(c) provides: Any city, town, municipality or county of this State, or any combination of the same, may contract with any public agency, public corporation or authority for the care,...
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...See also Stegall v. Southwest Georgia Regional Housing Authority, 197 Ga. 571, 588(4) (30 S.E.2d 196); Richmond County Hospital Authority v. McLain, 112 Ga.App. 209 (144 S.E.2d 565); 3 E.G.L., Authority Financing §§ 4, This question does not involve the tax exemption of property used for ch......
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...a distinction between an agency of the state or county and a political subdivision of the state. In Richmond County Hospital Authority v. McClain, 112 Ga.App. 209, 144 S.E.2d 565 (1965), the court there held that a county hospital authority was not a political subdivision since it was witho......
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...as to sovereign immunity remains an issue. Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. I, Sec. II, Par. IX(a).3 See also Richmond County Hosp. Auth. v. McClain, 112 Ga.App. 209, 144 S.E.2d 565 (1965); Bradfield v. Hosp. Auth. of Muscogee County, 226 Ga. 575, 587, 176 S.E.2d 92 (1970); Toombs County v. O'Neal,......
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