Does Georgia have immunity for issuing or denying a license or permit?
Yes. Decisions about granting, refusing, suspending, or revoking licenses and permits fall within an exception in the Georgia Tort Claims Act that keeps the state immune. The legislature treated these regulatory choices as outside the state’s waiver of immunity, so harm traced to a licensing decision generally cannot support a tort claim against the state.
The licensing-power exception ¶
O.C.G.A. § 50-21-24 enumerates categories of retained immunity, and one covers losses arising from licensing powers or functions, including the issuance, denial, suspension, or revocation of, or the failure or refusal to issue, deny, suspend, or revoke, any permit, license, certificate, approval, order, or similar authorization. The breadth of that language is deliberate: it reaches both the granting and the withholding of authorizations, and both action and inaction.
The reasoning parallels the discretionary-function exception. Licensing involves regulatory judgment about who should be allowed to engage in an activity, and exposing the state to tort liability for those judgments would convert every disputed permit decision into a potential lawsuit. Keeping the function immune lets agencies regulate without the threat of damages every time a third party is later harmed by a licensee or aggrieved by a denial.
What the exception does and does not reach ¶
A few distinctions help frame the exception:
- It protects the licensing decision itself, including a failure or refusal to act on a license or permit.
- It does not transform the state into a guarantor of a licensee’s later conduct; harm caused by a licensed person or business is generally the responsibility of that person or business, not the state that issued the license.
- Other exceptions in § 50-21-24, such as those for inspection and discretionary functions, frequently overlap with licensing scenarios, so more than one bar may apply.
Because licensing immunity is broad and reinforced by these neighboring exceptions, claims premised on a permit or license decision are difficult to bring against the state.
The bottom line ¶
Georgia retains immunity for issuing, denying, suspending, or revoking a license or permit under § 50-21-24, which covers both acting and failing or refusing to act on such authorizations. The state is not liable in tort for these regulatory choices, and it does not become responsible for the later conduct of those it licenses, so a claim based on a licensing decision generally cannot proceed against the state.
This article is for general educational and informational purposes only and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship, and Georgia law may change. For advice about a specific situation, consult a licensed Georgia personal injury attorney.