Murphy v. Bajjani, No. 06-1483 (Ga. June 25, 2007)
The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that individual school board members and school officials were entitled to immunity from a lawsuit accusing them of negligently failing to adopt a statutorily required school safety plan. When Timothy Bajjani, a student at North Gwinnett High School, was severely injured by a fellow student, his parents filed suit in state court against the Gwinnett County School District, the school board, the individual school board members, and various school district officials. The parents dismissed their claims against the district and board, leaving as defendants only the board members and employees in their individual capacities. The trial court dismissed the case on the ground that these defendants were entitled to official immunity. The Georgia Court of Appeals reversed, ruling that their acts or omissions in regard to their statutory duty were ministerial in nature, rather than discretionary. Under Georgia law, a "ministerial" act merely requires execution of a specified duty, whereas a "discretionary" act calls for deliberation, judgment, and action not specifically directed. A public official may be personally liable only for ministerial acts negligently performed or for acts performed with malice or intent to injure. This is intended to preserve the official’s independence of action without fear of lawsuits and to prevent a review of his or her judgment in hindsight.
The supreme court unanimously overruled the intermediate appeals court. While the supreme court agreed with the intermediate court that the word "shall" in the statute was "of mandatory import," it concluded that a statutorily mandated action is not equivalent to a ministerial act. Instead, the mandate in question still called on those responsible for creating the safety plan to exercise their discretion. The supreme court also rejected the parents’ argument that the school employees’ failure to carry out their statutory duty to report the assault immediately to the principal constituted negligence per se, subjecting them to civil liability. While the statute imposed criminal liability for such a failure to report, "[t]here is no indication that the legislature intended to impose civil liability in addition to the criminal sanctions set forth." The high court also disagreed that the statute or the state constitution imposes a duty on public school employees to provide medical care to students.
Murphy v. Bajjani, No. 06-1483 (Ga. June 25, 2007)
[Full opinion]
[Editor’s Note: A concurring opinion to intermediate appeals court decision in the case included a stinging critique of the No Child Left Behind Act’s "persistently dangerous" schools provision, discussed in the note accompanying the news excerpt below.]
[NSBA School Law pages on "persistently dangerous" label]