O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 25-2-38.1 (2019)

Sovereign immunity of state not waived; legal duty of property owner or lessee not relieved

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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(a) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to constitute a waiver of the sovereign immunity of the state, or any officer or employee thereof, in carrying out the provisions of this chapter. No action shall be maintained against the state, any municipality, county, or any officer, elected officer or employees thereof, for damages sustained as a result of any fire or related hazard covered in this chapter by reason of any inspection or other action taken or not taken pursuant to this chapter.

(b) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to relieve any property owner or lessee thereof from any legal duty, obligation, or liability incident to the ownership, maintenance, or use of such property.

History

Ga. L. 1981, p. 1779, § 9.

Annotations

Cross references. Nonliability of counties in absence of statute, § 36-1-4. Liability of municipal corporations for acts or omissions of officers, § 36-33-1 et seq. Immunity of state and political subdivi-

sions for emergency management activities, § 38-3-35. Immunity of officers, members, and others of county and municipal fire departments from liability for acts performed while fighting fires or for acts performed at scenes of emergency, §§ 51-1-29 through 51-1-30.4.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Application to city inspector performing a power reconnect inspection. - Neither O.C.G.A. § 8-2-222 nor O.C.G.A. § 25-2-38.1 operated to relieve a city inspector from liability for failure to properly inspect a mobile home prior to authorizing the connection of electrical power to the home because there was no evidence that the inspector conducted an

inspection of the mobile home pursuant to the Uniform Act for the Application of Building and Fire Related Codes to Existing Buildings or the Minimum Fire Safety Standards Code. Vann v. Finley, 313 Ga. App. 153, 721 S.E.2d 156, 2011 Ga. App. LEXIS 1080 (2011), cert. dismissed, No. S12C0667, 2012 Ga. LEXIS 387 (Ga. Apr. 24, 2012).

RESEARCH REFERENCES ALR. Municipal liability for negligent fire in-

spection and subsequent enforcement, 69 A.L.R.4th 739.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 2011–2025 · leading case: Vann v. Finley, 721 S.E.2d 156 (Ga. Ct. App. 2011).
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Vann v. Finley, 721 S.E.2d 156 (Ga. Ct. App. 2011). · cites it 2× “As for the Uniform Act, OCGA § 8-2-222 relieves municipal and county employees of liability “for damages sustained as a result of any fire or hazard covered by this article by reason of inspection or other action taken or not taken pursuant to this article” (emphasis supplied),…”
Karen Diane Wynn Lyle v. Jerry D. Heath, Jr. (Ga. Ct. App. 2025). · cites it 18× “, specifically OCGA § 25-2-38.1 (a), that Heath was a state actor under that section and deputized to perform investigations and arrests under OCGA § 25-2-9, and that the State rather than the City was the real party at interest.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.