Georgia CommonsCourt opinions
Georgia Supreme Court decisions with plain-language summaries. Browse by year and case type, or search by case name.
In the Matter of Howard L. Sosnik
The Supreme Court of Georgia suspended a Georgia attorney for six months as reciprocal discipline after New York disciplined him for failing to oversee his law firm's escrow account, which allowed an employee to misappropriate client funds.
JACKSON v. RAFFENSPERGER
The Supreme Court of Georgia revived a lactation consultant's lawsuit against Georgia's licensing law, ruling that the Georgia Constitution protects a right to work in one's chosen profession and that similarly qualified lactation consultants may be treated as equals under the law.
Johnson v. Williams
The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a habeas court's order that had thrown out a Cobb County bank robber's convictions, ruling his appellate lawyer was not ineffective for failing to raise two claims about his trial lawyer's performance.
MATHENIA v. BRUMBELOW
The Supreme Court of Georgia reinstated a trial court's decision denying a biological father's petition to legitimate his son, ruling that the Court of Appeals wrongly reweighed evidence about whether the father had abandoned his chance to build a relationship with the child.
Mahaffey v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Cobb County man's guilty pleas to felony murder and aggravated assault, ruling the plea record showed he understood his rights when he pleaded guilty rather than go to trial.
NEW CINGULAR WIRELESS PCS, LLC v. DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that AT&T's Georgia cell phone subsidiaries had legal standing to seek refunds of sales taxes collected before a 2009 law expressly let dealers file such claims on customers' behalf.
San Miguel Produce, Inc. v. L.G. Herndon Jr. Farms, Inc
The Supreme Court of Georgia answered three certified questions about Georgia's agricultural dealer licensing law, ruling that a produce company acting as a dealer must be licensed and that failing to get a license can bar it from enforcing a business contract in court.
State v. Rowe
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that it had jurisdiction to hear the Department of Corrections' appeal over a court order sealing prison visitation records in a death penalty case, and it partly upheld and partly overturned that order.
Sullivan v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Monique Sullivan's felony murder and aggravated assault convictions for a wrong-way highway crash that killed one driver and injured two others, finding the evidence showed intentional conduct despite a jury instruction error that was ultimately harmless.
Walker v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Columbus man's felony murder conviction for killing his girlfriend, rejecting his claims about jurisdiction, evidence rulings, and his lawyers' performance.
BARROW v. RAFFENSPERGER (Two Cases)
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger properly canceled the 2020 election for Justice Keith Blackwell's seat, because Blackwell's accepted resignation guarantees a vacancy that will erase the term voters would have been electing someone to fill.
Burley v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia sent a Harris County murder case back for a hearing after a man who pled guilty in 1992 said his lawyer wrongly told him he could not appeal a guilty plea conviction.
Carter v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Richmond County man's murder conviction, finding that any error in admitting a co-conspirator's hearsay statements was harmless and that he had no right to be present during a purely legal discussion of a jury question.
Clarke v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Gwinnett County man's murder conviction for killing his wife, rejecting claims about a hearsay statement, text messages sent to the jury room, and a missing jury instruction on confessions.
Collins v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County woman's murder conviction, rejecting claims that jurors improperly held her silence against her and that a juror should have been struck for bias.
Dawson v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Fulton County man's murder-related convictions, rejecting arguments about hearsay evidence, an allegedly induced confession, and a nine-year delay in deciding his appeal.
Evans v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld an Evans County man's murder convictions, ruling he never properly challenged his drug-influenced statements and consent to search before trial and that the evidence showed both were voluntary anyway.
Hill v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a Chattooga County man's murder conviction because the trial court forced him to sit before the jury in handcuffs, a waist chain, and leg irons without adequate justification or consideration of less restrictive alternatives.
In the Matter of Timothy Paul Healy
The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted a longtime attorney's request to give up his law license rather than face discipline for numerous ethics complaints, a step the court treats as equivalent to disbarment.
Oliver v. State
The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld an Albany man's guilty plea to felony murder, ruling the trial court had enough factual evidence to accept the plea and that he understood the rights he was giving up.