Appeals
Georgia Supreme Court Upholds Sovereign Immunity Win
Sun Choy and Wes Jackson obtained an appellate victory for the City of Roswell in a case involving an officer’s use of spike strips to stop a high-speed pursuit. The officer involved parked his car…
Sun Choy and Wes Jackson obtained an appellate victory for the City of Roswell in a case involving an officer’s use of spike strips to stop a high-speed pursuit. The officer involved parked his car ahead of the pursuit, exited the vehicle, removed the “stop sticks” from his trunk and stood behind his car to throw the sticks in the path of the fleeing driver. The fleeing driver swerved to miss them and struck the plaintiff, a pedestrian. The question on appeal was whether the officer’s actions amounted to the “negligent use of a motor vehicle” for purposes of the City’s statutory waiver of sovereign immunity.
The Georgia Court of Appeals held that while the officer “used” his vehicle in a broad sense, that “use” was too attenuated from the plaintiff’s injuries to have caused them. Furthermore, the Court held that the officer’s “use” of the vehicle to drive to the scene and assist in a pursuit was not “negligent,” and thus the plaintiff failed to show that her injuries arose from the “negligent use of a motor vehicle.” The plaintiff sought review of this decision by the Georgia Supreme Court, which denied the plaintiff’s request.
Clementina Hernandez-Flores v. City of Roswell
More Successes
More Successes
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