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Found 404 matching passages in 243 documents.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 19, 2024
In THE MATTER OF ESTON WILLIAM HOOD, JR. (Two Cases)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia suspended attorney Eston William Hood, Jr. for two years, rejecting a recommended one-year suspension as too lenient given his admitted false statements to opposing counsel, courtroom staff, and the State Bar itself.
1 Hood later amended his petition for voluntary discipline solely to include one inadvertently omitted character reference. With regard to SDBD No. 7407,2 the following facts are established by the record. In late 2018 or early 2019, Hood agreed to represent a client against whom a default judgment, totaling $5,710, had been entered in DeKalb County...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · April 8, 2025
State v. Williams
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld an order granting Jalontaye Cleveland and Courtney Williams new trials, ruling that the judge's jury instructions naming three witnesses as accomplices amounted to an improper comment on the defendants' guilt.
(c) M&P Food Mart Collins testified that, on October 22, 2016, Williams was driving Cleveland and Collins around, and they “talk[ed] about 3 Collins testified that Cleveland went by the nickname “Jay” or “LoSo.” doing a robbery.”4 Ritesh Prajapati5 was working at the M&P Food Mart that day. According to Collins, Williams dropped them off at the store “after...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 4, 2022
In the Matter of Trent Lee Coggins
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted a Valdosta lawyer's petition for a six-month suspension over trust account violations, retroactive to when he stopped practicing, and reinstated him immediately because the suspension period had already passed.
Additionally, prior to the May 2016 closing, Coggins was present and overheard a telephone conversation between his client and the third party in which they discussed applying the proceeds of the sale of the four lots toward repayment of the Loan. Coggins believed that the third party would release the four lots from the security deed upon application of...
More than a year later, in June 2017, the third party contacted Coggins’s client and requested a replacement check, representing that Check No. 5016 had been dishonored by the bank due to the length of time that had elapsed since it was issued. The client told the third party that he would request a replacement check from Coggins, but the client did not do...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 5, 2021
Department of Transportation v. Mixon
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a constitutional provision requiring the government to pay for property it takes or damages can also let landowners sue for an injunction, not just money, in certain circumstances.
[W]hen private property is taken or damaged for public road and street purposes by the State and the counties and the municipalities of the State, just and adequate compensation therefor need not be paid until the same has been finally fixed and determined as provided by law, but such just and adequate compensation shall then be paid in preference to all...
4 We note that at least some parts of the complex statutory scheme regarding eminent domain also appear to require payment to precede a taking. See, e.g., OCGA § 22-1-5 (“Except in cases of extreme necessity and great urgency, the right of eminent domain cannot be exercised without first providing for just compensation to the owner for the interference with...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 15, 2024
RBC GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT (U.S.) INC. v. LATTIMORE
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a $20 million default judgment against an investment adviser, ruling that the woman collecting on a judgment used the wrong garnishment form because the company is not a 'financial institution' under Georgia law.
mutual fund, or other organization held out to the public as a place of deposit of funds or medium of savings or collective investment. OCGA § 18-4-1 (4). The definition of “financial institution” does not include “registered investment advisors.” In fact, the Georgia Uniform Securities Act of 2008 defines “investment adviser” to specifically exclude a...
6 Pursuant to Securities and Exchange Commission regulations (Rules and Regulations, Investment Advisers Act of 1940), Global may have “deemed custody” of portfolios or funds that it manages, even though those funds are held by others. “Deemed custody” is a term of art used to indicate managerial control of the funds for investment purposes, not actual...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 2, 2026
Clark v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia sent a 2000 murder-for-hire case back to Fulton County for a hearing on whether Cleveland Clark's trial lawyers were ineffective, because he has had no earlier chance to raise that claim. His other challenges failed.
notice apparently was based on a verbal report received the same day from the defense’s expert preliminarily opining that Clark met the diagnostic criteria for mental retardation and appeared not to be competent to stand trial. The trial court held an evidentiary hearing on the motion for continuance on May 27, 2009, the day before the trial was scheduled...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · March 18, 2025
Arnold v. Alexander
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled it lacks 'original jurisdiction' to directly hear a mandamus petition from an indigent pro se litigant challenging the Fulton County Clerk's filing policies, and sent the case to the Court of Appeals instead.
1 OCGA § 9-15-2 provides, in full: (a)(1) When any party, plaintiff or defendant, in any action the Clerk’s ministerial duty to file papers and that the policy violates his federal constitutional rights to equal protection, due process, and or proceeding held in any court in this state is unable to pay any deposit, fee, or other cost which is normally...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 20, 2024
In THE MATTER OF DEIRDRE MARIA STEPHENS (Two Cases)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ordered the disbarment of attorney Deirdre Maria Stephens, rejecting a lighter six-month suspension recommendation after finding she repeatedly lied to a trial court about the location of $80,000 in client funds.
Finally, in September 2019, in response to the grievance filed against her, Stephens made additional false and misleading statements, stating: Throughout this legal ordeal I have informed my client that if a Motion for Contempt was filed and properly served then the money had to be released as I would not jeopardize my license so that he could attempt to...
(b) Conclusions of Law With regard to SDBD No. 7488, the Special Master found that Stephens admitted to violating Rule 1.15 (I) (a) and Rule 1.15 (II) (a), by allowing her trust account to fall below the minimum required balance and causing an overdraft on her trust account. Next, with regard to SDBD No. 7489, the Special Master determined that Stephens...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 1, 2024
In THE MATTER OF JOHN L.G. HERBERT, JR. (Four Cases)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred attorney John L. G. Herbert, Jr. after he defaulted on disciplinary charges accusing him of taking about $850,000 entrusted to him by overseas real estate investors.
2 This Rule provides, in pertinent part, that “a lawyer shall . . . keep the client reasonably informed about the status of the matter . . . [and] promptly comply with reasonable requests for information.” 3 This Rule provides that “[a] lawyer shall not make an agreement for, charge, or collect an unreasonable fee or an unreasonable amount for expenses,”...
7 This Rule provides, in pertinent part, that “[a]ll funds held by a lawyer for a client and all funds held by a lawyer in any other fiduciary capacity shall be deposited in and administered from a trust account.” 8 This Rule provides, in pertinent part, that “[n]o funds shall be withdrawn from such trust accounts for the personal use of the lawyer...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 11, 2024
In the Matter of Diana Y. McDonald
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred a solo practitioner who lied to a client's counterparty and to the State Bar about $4 million held in her trust account while secretly spending much of it herself.
2 McDonald admitted that she identified her firm as a “law group,” even though she was a solo practitioner. She testified that, at one point, another attorney had practiced with her, but that attorney left the firm in 2018. She continued practicing as a “law group” through the events leading to this disciplinary matter, which occurred in 2019. provide goods...
Then, on January 9, 2019, after the third party again demanded return of its $4,000,000, McDonald informed the third party that she had received confirmation from her client that the Bitcoin would be delivered “before the end of business today”; represented that, “[a]s a gesture of good faith and recognition for the delay,” she had negotiated with her...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 17, 2026
Wilmington Trust, National Association v. Ameritas Life Insurance Corp
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia clarified how courts should decide whether a third party, rather than the insured, actually obtained a life insurance policy, a question that determines whether the policy is an illegal wager on a human life.
iv. The Nonrecourse Loan On February 16, 2007, the Insured and her husband executed a Disclosure Statement, Representations and Warranties, and Consent, in connection with a Loan and Security Agreement to pay for the Policy premiums with the assistance of attorney Ian Chaikin. Chaikin testified that he did not personally know Mrs. Leone, Mr. Leone, or...
Although there was an option for the Trust to extend the Loan for a third year, Mr. Shapiro testified that, under the Peachtree Program in which he was a designee, he did not recall a single occurrence where an insured reached into their own pocket and paid to extend the loan for a third year in the thirty to forty insurance trusts for which he served as a...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 18, 2020
San Miguel Produce, Inc. v. L.G. Herndon Jr. Farms, Inc
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): 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.
a regulatory measure in the public interest and not a mere revenue measure. This Act requires more than the mere obtaining of a business license and a mere reading of the Act discloses without contradiction that it is an enactment for the protection of the public and a recognition that unless such employment agencies are solvent and operated by persons of...
Georgia’s Act imposes a similar, though not identical, licensing system upon dealers in agricultural products who engage in such business in Georgia.4 Subject to the exemptions in OCGA § 2-9-15, a “dealer in agricultural products,” as that term is defined in OCGA § 2-9-1 (2), is required to obtain a license from the Commissioner of Agriculture. See OCGA §...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 21, 2023
EFFICIENCY LODGE, INC. v. NEASON
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia vacated a ruling requiring an extended-stay motel to use court eviction proceedings against long-term residents, holding that lower courts used the wrong legal test to decide whether the residents were tenants or hotel guests.
We leave it for the trial court to apply this framework in the first instance, consistent with this opinion. 1. Background (a) Legal Framework Two legal relationships are at issue in this case. Both are be- tween a property owner and a person who occupies that property, and both are defined by statute. Under either relationship, if the occupant fails to pay...
The second relationship is that of innkeeper and guest. An inn is a “tavern[ ], hotel[ ], [or] house[ ] of public general entertainment for guests,” and a guest is “a person who pays a fee to the keeper of an inn for the purpose of entertainment at that inn.” OCGA § 43-21- 1. Unlike a landlord, an innkeeper does not need to file a writ of possession to...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 18, 2020
In the Matter of Howard L. Sosnik
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): 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.
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the petition for voluntary discipline filed by Howard L. Sosnik (State Bar No. 667258) under Bar Rule 4-227 (b), in which he seeks a six-month suspension as reciprocal discipline for a six-month suspension imposed in New York. See In the Matter of Sosnik, 173 AD3d 137 (N.Y. App. Div., May 29, 2019)...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · April 21, 2026
In the Matter of Darryl J. Ferguson
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia dismissed an attorney discipline case against a personal injury lawyer, ruling the State Bar failed to prove he improperly withheld settlement money owed to a chiropractor who treated his clients.
MCMILLIAN, Justice, dissenting. Because I believe that the “Notice of Doctor’s Lien” for each client constituted contractual liens and that Ferguson could not reasonably conclude that he had a defense to those contractual liens, I respectfully dissent. A “lien” is generally “used to denote a legal claim or charge on property, either real or personal, for...
13 Although not relevant here, an equitable lien may also be available when a party was entitled to a statutory lien but was prevented from perfecting the lien. See, e.g., Clover Cable of Ohio v. Heywood, 260 Ga. 341, 344 (1990) (“When a party entitled to a statutory lien has been prevented from perfecting such lien by the acts of the adverse party, it has...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 15, 2024
In the Matter of William Slater Vincent
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted a Fulton-area attorney's petition for voluntary discipline over trust account violations, ordering a public reprimand instead of the suspension the State Bar had sought.
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on William Slater Vincent’s (State Bar No. 727801) second amended petition for voluntary discipline filed before the issuance of a formal complaint. See Bar Rule 4-227 (b).1 In his second amended petition, Vincent2 admits that he violated Rules 1.15 (II) (a)3 and 1.15 (III) (b)4 of the Georgia Rules...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · September 7, 2022
In the Matter of Andrew Matteson
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia rejected an attorney's request to accept a three- to six-month suspension for mishandling client funds and abandoning cases, because he gave the court no proof of his mental health claims or that he had made his clients whole.
In his petition, Matteson, who was admitted to the Bar in 2000, makes the following admissions unconditionally with respect to State Disciplinary Board Docket (“SDBD”) No. 7496. In exchange for a total retainer of $1,500 paid to Matteson’s law firm, Matteson represented a client in several personal and business matters over a number of years including 2017....
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · July 22, 2025
In the Matter of Justin Allen Chin
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred attorney Justin Allen Chin after finding he knowingly mishandled client funds and neglected clients in eight separate divorce cases, rejecting a hearing officer's recommendation of a shorter suspension.
1. Procedural History Between May 31, 2023, and June 5, 2023, the State Bar filed eight formal complaints charging Chin with violations of Rules 1.2 (a) (a lawyer shall abide by a client’s decisions concerning the scope and objectives of representation and shall consult with the client as to the means by which they are to be pursued); 1.3 (a lawyer shall...
For SDBD No. 7704, the Special Master recounted that Chin represented the client in this disciplinary matter in a divorce action. The client sold the marital residence and, on April 13, 2021, $269,982.76 in proceeds from the sale were deposited into Chin’s IOLTA account. Between April and December 2021, Chin withdrew for his attorney fees $118,246.70 of the...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 29, 2023
WELCH v. PAPPAS RESTAURANTS, INC. (Two Cases)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia clarified that whether a crime on a business's property was reasonably foreseeable depends on the totality of the circumstances, not just proof of an identical past crime, and is usually a jury question.
IV. A party rendering security services to the proprietor may owe a duty of care to third parties on the bases set out in Section 324A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. 16 Because of our holding here, we need not reach the issue of whether apportionment to a nonparty would even have been permitted under the version of OCGA § 51-12-33 (b) in effect at...
BETHEL, Justice. Collectively, these cases present an opportunity to explore the scope and nature of the liability faced by premises owners, occupiers, and security contractors in cases involving personal injuries arising from third-party criminal conduct. Although the underlying appeals vary with respect to their facts and specific issues presented, the...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 17, 2026
In the Matter of Bryan Matthew Pritchett
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred attorney Bryan Matthew Pritchett after he admitted forging clients' signatures on workers' compensation checks and keeping the money for himself, then lied to clients and ignored the State Bar's investigation.
11 Rule 1.15(I)(a) provides that, in relevant part, that “[a] lawyer shall hold funds or other property of clients or third persons that are in a lawyer’s possession in connection with a representation separate from the lawyer’s own funds or other property. … Complete records of such account funds and other property shall be kept by the lawyer and shall be...
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