Shekhawat v. Jones (Summary)

OFFICIAL IMMUNITY

Shekhawat v. Jones, No. S12G0552 (Ga. July 11, 2013)

The Supreme Court of Georgia granted certiorari to determine whether physicians who were employed as faculty members at the Medical College of Georgia were entitled to official immunity in a malpractice lawsuit.  Because the court found that the physicians were acting within the scope of their employment while rendering the medical care that was the subject of the malpractice suit, the court held that the physicians were entitled to official immunity.  The court explained that, under the Georgia Tort Claims Act, ‘where a state employee commits a tort while acting within the scope of his employment with the State, the State through the employing government agency may be held liable, but the individual state employee may not.”