When any action is brought against the Department of Human Services, the Board of Human Services, the commissioner of human services, or any employee or agent thereof or when any action is brought in which the department could be held responsible for damages awarded in such action, it shall be the duty of the plaintiff to provide for service of notice of the pendency of such action by providing for service of a second original process, issued from the court in which the action is filed, upon the commissioner of human services personally or upon a person designated by the commissioner in writing to serve as agent for the acceptance of such service of process. The service of process in such action shall not be perfected until such second original process has been served as provided in this Code section. The provisions of this Code section shall be cumulative of any other requirements imposed by law for the service of process or notice.
(Code 1981, §49-2-15, enacted by Ga. L. 1989, p. 497, § 1; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 2-1/HB 228.)
Editor's notes.- Ga. L. 1989, p. 497, § 2, not codified by the General Assembly, provided that the amendment to this Code section by the Act shall apply to all actions filed on or after July 1, 1989.
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
No application to review of decision on placing person on child abuse registry.
- Alleged child abuser properly served the Department of Human Services with a petition for judicial review of a decision to place the alleged abuser on the child abuse registry, under former O.C.G.A. § 49-5-183, by serving the attorneys who had represented the department before the administrative law judge; the alleged abuser was not required to serve the commissioner of the department. O.C.G.A. § 49-2-15, requiring service on the commissioner by second original process in actions against the department, did not apply. Schuman v. Dep't of Human Servs., 354 Ga. App. 509, 841 S.E.2d 218 (2020).