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O.C.G.A. § 37-2-6.3 — Public body; lawsuits; debts, obligations, and liabilities | Georgia Code
O.C.G.A. § 37-2-6.3 (2018) Copy Cite Official Site Syfertize CourtListener Scholar Amendments

TITLE 37 MENTAL HEALTH

Section 2. Administration of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, Addictive Diseases, and Other Disability Services, 37-2-1 through 37-2-50.

ARTICLE 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS

37-2-6.3. Public body; lawsuits; debts, obligations, and liabilities.

  1. A community service board is a public body as provided in paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of Code Section 37-2-11.1.
  2. A community service board has the power to bring an action in its own name and, to the extent otherwise authorized by law and to the extent not immune from suit, may be sued in its own name. The state and the counties in which the community service board operates shall not be considered a party to or liable under any such litigation.
  3. The governing board of a community service board as well as the community service board itself shall be prohibited from bringing any action against the state.
  4. Debts, obligations, and liabilities of a community service board are not debts, obligations, or liabilities of the state or of the counties in which such board operates. A community service board is prohibited from entering into debts, obligations, or liabilities which are also debts, obligations, or liabilities of the state or of any county.

(Code 1981, §37-2-6.3, enacted by Ga. L. 2002, p. 1324, § 2-6; Ga. L. 2009, p. 8, § 37/SB 46; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 3-1/HB 228; Ga. L. 2014, p. 309, § 6/SB 349.)

The 2014 amendment, effective April 16, 2014, added subsection (c) and redesignated former subsection (c) as present subsection (d).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Fiscal autonomy.

- Because O.C.G.A. § 37-2-11.1 stated community service boards (CSB) were not agencies of the state or any specific county and that the boards had the same immunity as counties and counties were not arms of the state and did not have Eleventh Amendment immunity, the defendant, a CSB former employer, was not entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity on a plaintiff former employee's discrimination claim; it was noted that CSB were fiscally autonomous and solely liable for any losses due to suit under O.C.G.A. §§ 37-2-6(a) and37-2-6.1(b)(16), and O.C.G.A. § 37-2-6.3(c) specifically made CSB solely liable in litigation; thus, there was no question that CSB were fiscally autonomous. Peery v. Serenity Behavioral Health Sys., F. Supp. 2d (S.D. Ga. May 4, 2009).

Cited in Johnson v. Ogeechee Behavioral Health Servs., 479 F. Supp. 2d 1357 (S.D. Ga. 2007).

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This Georgia Code resource is curated by an Orange Park personal injury and workers' comp lawyer, a personal injury and workers' compensation attorney admitted in Georgia (State Bar of Georgia No. 881027, since 2006) and Florida. For legal consultation, call 904-383-7448.