Cert Petitions July 1

The Court granted cert in just one case today, Department of Public Safety v. Ragsdale.

Dept. of Public Safety v. Ragsdale.

Ragsdale was injured in a car accident by a fleeing suspect during a police chase, and filed suit against the Department of Public Safety.

The order granting cert asks whether "the time for filing an ante litem notice under the Georgia Tort Claims Act, see OCGA § 50-21-26 (a) (1), subject to tolling under OCGA § 9-33-99?"

"Ante litem notice" refers to the statutory requirement that a plaintiff seeking to file suit against the state or one of its agency provide notice to the the Risk Management Division of the Department of Administrative Services and the would-be-defendant officials "in writing within 12 months of the date the loss was discovered or should have been discovered." See OCGA § 50-21-26.

OCGA § 9-33-99 provides for the tolling of the statute of limitations for a tort claim brought by the victim of a crime "which arises out of the facts and circumstances relating to the commission of such alleged crime" until the criminal prosecution has concluded. The Court of Appeals has held over time that § 9-33-99 applies to tort claims against any activity related to the criminal conduct, even if the plaintiff's claim is not against the criminal actor himself.

Writing for the Court of Appeals, Presiding Judge Doyle rejected the state's argument that § 9-3-99 does not apply to the ante-litem notice because it is not a statute of limitations. While there is a separate statute of limitations provision under the GTCA (§ 50-21-27), the Court of Appeals has historically applied infancy-tolling provisions (preventing a deadline to run against a would-be-plaintiff while they are a minor) against ante-litem notice requirements, since they effectively operate as a time bar in those circumstances. See 347 Ga. App. 827, 830 (2019).

The case has been assigned to the October argument calendar.



Denied

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