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Found 95 matching documents.
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deposited in and administered from a trust account.” 8 This Rule provides, in pertinent part, that “[n]o funds shall be withdrawn from such trust accounts for the personal use of the lawyer...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 · 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 · 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.
1. Special Master’s Report (a) Findings of Fact Regarding State Disciplinary Board Docket (“SDBD”) No. 7488, the Special Master made the following findings of fact. On May 2, 2018, a $700 check was presented on Stephens’s trust account, but there were insufficient funds available to cover the check. The reason for the overdraft was that Stephens did not...
Stephens testified that she disbursed the $75,000 to the client almost immediately after she received the funds into her bank account and when she paid him there was no indication of any claim by the LLC owner to the money or the possibility of any return of funds. The State Bar offered no evidence to the contrary, and the record did not pinpoint the exact...
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.
Rule 1.8 (e) — Advancing Money to a Client In considering the alleged violation of Rule 1.8 (e) (lawyer shall not provide financial assistance to a client in connection with pending or contemplated litigation with certain exceptions for costs and expenses), the Special Master noted that McDonald admitted she provided financial assistance to a bankruptcy...
The Special Master noted that, here, McDonald knew that entitlement to the entire $4,000,000 was being claimed by the third party, but she did not voluntarily return any of the money until after the third party filed its grievance and federal lawsuit (and the federal court ordered her to pay the money into the court’s registry). And even then, she only paid...
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...
Separately, Vincent admits that he violated Rule 1.15 (III) (b) by “failing to ensure that his Business Checking Preferred account . . . had a description which complied with” Rule 1.15 (III) (b) by identifying it as an “Attorney Trust Account” on statements, checks, and deposit slips. Vincent admits that he failed to take notice that the account...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · August 13, 2024
In the Matter of Anthony O. Van Johnson
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted an Atlanta-area attorney's voluntary surrender of his law license after he admitted forging a client's signature on a settlement check, keeping her money, and abandoning other clients' cases.
3 Rule 1.15 (I) provides: (a) 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. Funds shall be kept in one or more separate accounts maintained in an approved institution as defined by Rule 1.15 (III) (c) (1)....
(i) A statutory lien; (ii) A final judgment addressing disposition of those funds or property; or (iii) A written agreement by the client or the lawyer on behalf of the client guaranteeing payment out of those funds or property. The lawyer may disregard the third person’s claimed interest if the lawyer reasonably concludes that there is a valid defense to...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · July 2, 2024
In the Matter of Susan Michele Brown
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia rejected a petition by attorney Susan Brown to accept discipline for her conduct as a trust administrator, ruling that the ethics rules she supposedly violated do not reach a lawyer acting purely as a fiduciary outside the practice of law.
type of trust account from which a lawyer should administer the identified funds, dictates certain recordkeeping requirements, and sets out rules prohibiting commingling a lawyer’s personal funds with other funds in her possession and prohibiting the lawyer’s withdrawal of those funds for her own personal use (with some exceptions). With that overview, we...
By its plain terms, subsection (a) broadly applies to lawyers “who practice[ ] law in Georgia,” but it does not make clear by its express terms whether it applies only to funds or property obtained by a lawyer in the course of a legal representation of a client. Insofar as the subsection references a lawyer receiving money or property or holding funds “on...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 19, 2024
In the Matter of Christian Aaron Coomer
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted a two-year law license suspension for Christian Aaron Coomer, a former Court of Appeals judge, over conflicts of interest and financial dealings with an elderly client.
In late 2017, Coomer began to borrow money from Filhart. In December 2017, Filhart loaned $80,000 to CAC Holdings, LLC (“CAC”), a limited liability company of which Coomer was the sole member. Coomer presented Filhart a promissory note (“First Promissory Note”), promising to repay the loan in monthly installments with the last installment due in December...
7 Coomer stated that he was involved in some of these activities before 2023, but that his work with the veterans’ groups and the retired men’s groups began after he was removed from the bench. testified that he has kept up with his continuing legal education requirements and has signed up for courses relevant to the issues he faced in this matter. In an...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 31, 2024
Jones v. City of Atlanta
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a trial court wrongly dismissed a resident's lawsuit claiming Atlanta's water department secretly passes hidden taxes onto customers through two city ordinances, sending the case back for a proper review.
2. The City’s 2014 Revenue Manual. Appellant also attached to his Complaint excerpts from the City’s 2014 Revenue Manual. The 2014 Revenue Manual divides the City’s “revenues and sources of income” into various categories, including “taxes” and “charges for services,” and it categorizes the PILOT and Franchise Fee as taxes. The 2014 Revenue Manual further...
4. Testimony of Mohamed Balla on behalf of the City. In further support of his claims, Appellant attached to his Complaint two excerpts of testimony by Mohamed Balla regarding DWM’s finances. The first excerpt contains Balla’s testimony before 6 Though “the judgment of the superior court confirming and validating the issuance of the bonds and the security...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · April 30, 2024
City of Atlanta v. 400 Edgewood, LLC
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia denied review of a dispute over a gas station ordered by an Atlanta municipal court to add security cameras and cut its hours, leaving in place a ruling that the court overstepped its power.
MCMILLIAN, Justice, concurring in the denial of certiorari. This case turns on whether it is within the jurisdiction of a municipal court to order the owner of a gas station and convenience store to make various changes to its security and operations, after the City of Atlanta asked that court to abate an alleged public nuisance on the owner’s property. I...
Wolcott supports that the relief granted in this case is also “beyond the power of the municipal court.” 240 Ga. at 245. Here, the City of Atlanta originally filed a complaint in rem to abate an alleged public nuisance on the owner’s property, requesting the municipal court to ‘“close and immediately secure the Property so that it cannot be used in...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · January 17, 2024
In THE MATTER OF DERRIC CROWTHER (Two Cases)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred attorney Derric Crowther, rejecting a review board's recommendation of a four-year suspension for mishandling client settlement funds and violating trust accounting rules in two separate cases.
2. Special Master’s Report and Recommendation (a) SDBD No. 7390 In 2006, the client filed a pro se medical malpractice action against a Macon hospital on behalf of herself, her siblings, and as the administratrix of her mother’s estate (collectively, “plaintiffs”), alleging malpractice by the hospital’s nurses in connection with her mother’s death. Crowther...
In 2012, Crowther learned from a new expert that the nurses had not actually deviated from the applicable standard of care. He pursued settlement with the hospital, and the parties settled in August 2012. The hospital issued two checks totaling $187,500, with a $7,500 check paid directly to a defense expert and the remaining $180,000 paid to the order of...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 29, 2024
JOHN DA GROSA SMITH v. RYAN MILLSAP
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia declined to review a Court of Appeals ruling about disbursing disputed funds held by a trial court, with a concurring opinion explaining why the lower court's decision was too narrow to raise a serious legal question.
PETERSON, Presiding Justice, concurring. John Smith’s certiorari petition raises an issue of possible gravity: whether the broad power of trial courts to order disputed funds to be paid into the registry of the court pending resolution of the dispute includes an equally broad power to disburse funds from the registry before the dispute has been resolved....
319 Ga. 175 FINAL COPY S24C0302. SMITH et al. v. MILLSAP et al. ORDER OF THE COURT. The Supreme Court today denied the petition for certiorari in this case. All the Justices concur.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · September 17, 2024
In THE MATTER OF CORY D. RAINES (Two Cases)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred attorney Cory D. Raines after he defaulted in two disciplinary cases accusing him of mishandling client settlement funds, including money owed to two minor siblings and a medical clinic.
State Disciplinary Board Docket (“SDBD”) No. 7694 and No. 7695, Raines was served by publication on July 5, 2023. Raines failed to file answers to the formal complaints, and on August 28, the State Bar filed a motion for default in these matters pursuant to Bar Rule 4-212 (a). Raines did not respond to this motion. However, on October 12, Raines...
5 SDBD No. 7694 corresponds to Case No. S24Y0997. siblings’ claims — Raines issued checks from his personal operating account to the siblings for $14,907.72 and $12,930.96; Raines did not disburse the funds to the siblings from his IOLTA account, nor did he satisfy the third-party interests in the settlement funds, as he failed to pay the hospital. Based on...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 27, 2024
White v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Erica White's murder and RICO convictions for the codeine poisoning death of her disabled two-year-old son, rejecting claims about improper evidence, severance, indictment defects, ineffective counsel, and withheld evidence.
furtherance of White and Schullerman’s scheme to financially exploit Tyrael in death. In March 2013, White submitted a grant application to the Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund Commission, which provides grants to Georgians who have suffered traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, in which she falsely represented her total monthly income. Additionally,...
(b) White’s Trial The State ultimately charged White and Schullerman with Tyrael’s murder, among other crimes. At trial, the State contended that White and Schullerman poisoned Tyrael with Tylenol 3, alleging that White feigned a UTI and obtained a Tylenol 3 prescription under false pretense. To support that contention, Dr. Rashid testified that a person’s...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 1, 2024
Depriest v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Newton County man's felony murder conviction for fatally shooting his cousin, finding the evidence supported intent and that any jury instruction error was harmless.
319 Ga. 874 FINAL COPY S24A1152. DEPRIEST v. THE STATE.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 14, 2024
In the Matter of James W. Davis, III
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred attorney James W. Davis III for knowingly using his trust account to help intercept and steal a $3 million insurance payment meant for a policyholder.
3 See In the Matter of Head, 317 Ga. 512, 512 (893 SE2d 706) (2023) (noting that, because the respondent attorney failed to file a Notice of Rejection, the underlying facts were “deemed admitted by [his] default”). 4 The record includes the State Bar’s Notice of Discipline, a memorandum of grievance issued by the State Bar to Davis, and orders filed in a...
Having reviewed the record and considered the facts deemed admitted by Davis’s default, the State Disciplinary Board found probable cause to believe that Davis violated Rules 1.15 (I), 1.15 (II) (a),6 and 8.4 (a) (4). The maximum sanction for a violation of Rules 6 Based on the underlying facts, it does not appear that Davis violated Rule 1.15 (II) (a),...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 29, 2024
Jones v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County man's felony murder conviction in the beating death of a woman he had arranged to pay for sex, rejecting challenges to the evidence, his decision not to testify, and his life sentence.
A few hours later, Bernard Nguyen, a maintenance man, arrived at the vacant home to prepare it for a new tenant. As he began cleaning on May 12, he noticed blood in an upstairs bathroom. He then noticed blood near the stairs that he overlooked when he first went up the stairs. Not finding anyone upstairs, he checked a downstairs bedroom, where he saw a...
319 Ga. 140 FINAL COPY S24A0351. JONES v. THE STATE.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 31, 2024
GEORGIA ASSOCIATION OF CLUB EXECUTIVES, INC. v. STATE OF GEORGIA (Two Cases)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Georgia's one percent tax on adult entertainment clubs that combine nude dancing with alcohol sales, ruling the tax does not violate free speech rights because it targets the harms those businesses cause, not the dancing itself.
Even the two state supreme courts that have upheld under intermediate scrutiny taxes or fees similar to the Assessment (and which the majority opinion cites as persuasive authority) do not characterize the state’s interest in the way the majority opinion does here. See Bushco v. Utah State Tax Comm., 225 P3d 153, 167 (Utah 2009) (“[T]he record supports the...
2 OCGA § 15-21-209 was passed in 2015. In November 2016, Georgia voters voted to amend the Georgia Constitution to allow for the Assessment. See Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. III, Sec. IX, Par. VI (o) (“The General Assembly . . . may impose assessments on adult entertainment establishments as defined by law; and . . . may provide by general law for the...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · April 30, 2024
Ward v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Paulding County man's felony murder and related convictions, rejecting his claims that the jury should have heard a voluntary manslaughter option, that his second-shooting conviction was legally inconsistent, and that his lawyer was ineffective.
318 Ga. 884 FINAL COPY S24A0352. WARD v. THE STATE.
16 At the motion-for-new-trial hearing, the prosecutor advised the trial court that the State and Ward — through his motion-for-new-trial counsel — had “agreed to stipulate” that Belin was “in custody” for the October 2020 charge from October 12, 2020, until February 28, 2021, shortly before the crimes at issue occurred. before trial that evidence of...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · December 10, 2024
Sumrall v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the denial of a DeKalb County man's decades-late request for retroactive first-offender treatment, ruling he never got the prosecutor's required consent before filing and that the law does not violate his constitutional rights.
1. Georgia’s “First Offender Act[, OCGA § 42-8-60 et seq.,] is a unique act by which the legislature extends a form of grace to individuals who commit certain types of crimes.” Howard v. State, 319 Ga. 114, 117 (2) (902 SE2d 551) (2024). Under the Act, “a first- time felony offender who enters a guilty plea may be sentenced to probation or confinement...
Ammon R. Sumrall, pro se. Sherry Boston, District Attorney, Deborah D. Wellborn, Lenny I. Krick, Assistant District Attorneys; Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Beth A. Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Meghan H. Hill, Clint C. Malcolm, Senior Assistant Attorneys General, for appellee.
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