§ 19-13-77.Operation deemed a governmental function
Chapter 13. Family Violence · Article 5. Family Justice Centers · Last amended 2026 · Last verified October 9, 2026
Full Text of § 19-13-77
Plain-English Summary
This section addresses lawsuits involving Georgia’s Family Justice Centers. It took effect July 1, 2026. Subsection (a) declares that any county, municipality or district attorney’s office that establishes or operates a center under this article is carrying out a governmental function.
Subsection (b) extends protection to the many non-government people who work in a center. Any employee, contractor or volunteer of a partner or participating agency providing services within a center operated under the authority of a county, municipality or district attorney’s office gets the same degree of official or governmental immunity from civil liability as the officers or employees of the establishing authority. That protection covers acts or omissions arising directly from duties within the scope of center operations, and only if they were performed in good faith, were within the course and scope of assigned duties, and were not the result of willful or wanton misconduct, gross negligence or bad faith. All three conditions must be met.
Subsection (c) keeps the existing rules intact: nothing in the article waives, diminishes or impairs the sovereign or official immunity of the state or its political subdivisions, or creates a new cause of action against any governmental entity. Subsection (d) lets a county, municipality or district attorney’s office running a center buy insurance for itself and for partner or participating agency personnel acting within the article, and buying that insurance isn’t a waiver of immunity. Whether immunity applies in a particular case is for a court to decide on the facts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sue a Family Justice Center in Georgia?
It is difficult. Running a center under the authority of a county, city or district attorney’s office is a governmental function, the article doesn’t waive sovereign or official immunity, and it creates no new cause of action against a governmental entity. Whether a claim survives depends on the facts and other law.
Are Family Justice Center volunteers immune from lawsuits?
They can be. A volunteer of a partner or participating agency at a government-run center gets the same official or governmental immunity as the establishing authority’s employees, for acts done in good faith, within assigned duties, and not from willful or wanton misconduct, gross negligence or bad faith.
Does immunity cover gross negligence at a Family Justice Center?
No. The extended immunity applies only to acts that are not the result of willful or wanton misconduct, gross negligence or bad faith. The act must also be performed in good faith and within the course and scope of assigned duties.
Does buying insurance waive a Family Justice Center’s immunity?
No. A county, municipality or district attorney’s office operating a center may buy insurance for itself and for partner or participating agency personnel acting within the scope of the article, and the section says the purchase of that insurance shall not be construed as a waiver of immunity.
Does this immunity apply to a center run only by a nonprofit?
The extended immunity in subsection (b) covers employees, contractors and volunteers providing services within a center operated under the authority of a county, municipality or district attorney’s office. The section doesn’t extend that protection to centers outside that authority, and whether any immunity applies in a given case is for a court to decide.
Amendment History
Laws 2026, Act 719, § 1, eff. July 1, 2026.