Tough legal questions linger | ForsythNews.com

The case could be historic in that it’s the first time an elected official has been sued by the attorney general’s office for violating the act, which was recently updated.

The changes, ironically, were signed into law by Gov. Nathan Deal the same day as the city council meeting in question.

Kevin Tallant, an attorney with Miles Patterson Hansford Tallant, argued Thursday that the case should be dismissed because Gravitt has “sovereign immunity” as an elected official who was acting in his official capacity at the time of the incident.

Tallant contended that the Georgia Constitution stipulates that sovereign immunity can be waived only by an act of the state legislature.

However, Adamson questioned that theory since the case involves two governmental agencies.

“Cities, counties, authorities are subdivisions or agencies of the state. They are creations of the legislature of the state and they’re essentially subparts of that state,” Adamson said.

“This is an action by a state agency against another state agency and a person acting within the responsibility of the authority of that sub-agency.”

Tallant countered that sovereign immunity doesn’t come from the state legislature, but rather ultimately the people of Georgia.

“The city’s sovereign immunity comes from the constitution, which comes from the people of the state of Georgia that ratified it,” he said.

“That’s a key point … [the state] is not the genesis of that sovereign immunity.”

Kelly Campanella, the attorney who presented evidence on behalf of the Olens’ office, maintained that sovereign immunity doesn’t apply in this case.

“Sovereign immunity cannot be invoked by something that is a child of the state, a creation of the state,” Campanella said. “The state is sovereign to the city of Cumming, but Cumming is not the state’s sovereign. Conceptually it just doesn’t apply.”