Governmental Immunity Act

This act governs the circumstances under which governmental entities and their employees may be held liable in tort, setting out where sovereign immunity applies and where it is set aside. Its central mechanism is a retained immunity that operates as a general bar to suit, subject to enumerated waivers, together with standards defining the duty of care owed and how liability is determined. Around that core it establishes the procedural and fiscal machinery of such claims: required notice before suit, defense of public employees sued for acts within their employment, ceilings on the amount of any judgment and on attorney fees in class actions, rules for settling and paying claims rather than enforcing them by execution or attachment, and authority for public entities to obtain or pool insurance coverage against the liabilities it creates.

Editorial summary generated from the text of this act. It is not part of the statute — read the sections below for the operative language.