## Facts

- James Wynn was a teacher at Harris County High School, part of the Harris County School District.
- On November 18, 1987, written physical-education examinations were being administered in the school gym to both senior and freshman students.
- Wynn was in charge of the senior class and stood at the gym doorway instructing students not to change clothing.
- When the tardy bell rang, Wynn briefly left the gym to go to his office to retrieve his roll book and the test papers.
- While Wynn was away, one of the senior students threw pecans at a group of freshmen students, including Christopher Parker.
- A pecan struck Parker in his right eye, allegedly causing permanent injury.
- Parker (by next friend) sued the Harris County School District and Wynn, asserting negligent supervision.
- The school district established it had not purchased liability insurance and obtained summary judgment on sovereign-immunity grounds.
- Wynn asserted official immunity, and it was undisputed that the alleged negligent supervision involved a discretionary act within his official duties and involved no wilfulness, malice, or corruption.
- Although the school district had no liability insurance, Wynn had a private liability policy issued to a professional educators’ association.
- The trial court granted summary judgment to Wynn, and Parker appealed only the grant of summary judgment in Wynn’s favor.

## Issues

1. Whether a public-school teacher’s private liability insurance constitutes a waiver of the teacher’s official immunity for discretionary acts performed in an official capacity, where the injury occurred before the 1991 amendment to the Georgia Constitution’s sovereign-immunity provision.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of Georgia affirmed the grant of summary judgment for Wynn.
- The court held that Wynn’s private liability insurance did not waive the official immunity that otherwise protected him from personal liability for discretionary, non-malicious acts performed as a teacher.
- Because the cause of action accrued before the effective date of the 1991 constitutional amendment, the court applied the pre-1991 immunity framework and found no waiver based on Wynn’s privately obtained coverage.

## Legal Principles

- Public employees in Georgia are protected by official immunity for discretionary acts performed within the scope of their official authority, unless they act with wilfulness, malice, or corruption.
- A teacher’s supervision decisions in a school setting, including momentary absences related to class administration, are treated as discretionary acts for official-immunity purposes.
- For claims accruing before the 1991 amendment to Art. I, Sec. II, Par. IX of the Georgia Constitution, sovereign immunity could be waived only to the extent liability insurance was provided by the governmental entity for such claims.
- The pre-1991 insurance-based waiver doctrine concerned sovereign immunity of the State and its political subdivisions, not personal official immunity of an individual employee based on the employee’s privately purchased insurance.
- A private liability policy obtained through an educators’ association does not operate as a governmental waiver and does not eliminate a teacher’s official immunity for discretionary, non-malicious conduct.

## Conclusion

Because Wynn’s alleged negligent supervision was a discretionary act performed as a public-school teacher without wilfulness, malice, or corruption, and because his private liability insurance did not waive official immunity under the pre-1991 constitutional framework applicable to this 1987 injury, Wynn remained immune from suit and summary judgment for Wynn was properly affirmed.


Parker v. Wynn, 438 S.E.2d 147 (1993)