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Found 138 matching documents.
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 · December 21, 2020
Nuckles v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a hidden camera video from a nursing home patient's room can be used as evidence against a nurse charged in his death, because the patient counted as an occupier of the property and the nurse had no reasonable expectation of privacy while working there.
2. With regard to her first contention, Nuckles argues that the phrase “owner or occupier of real property,” regardless of its context, is a legal term of art referring only to a person who has ultimate control over the property and is responsible for its maintenance, protection, and guests. Because Dempsey had no such control of, or responsibility for, the...
10 See, e.g., OCGA § 16-1-3 (10) (defining the term “owner” as used in Title 16 as “a person who has a right to possession of property which is superior to that of a person who takes, uses, obtains, or withholds it from him and which the person taking, using, obtaining, or withholding is not privileged to infringe.”). adopted the Security Exception as...
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 · January 13, 2020
Davis v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld Carlton Davis's felony murder conviction, rejecting his claims about a coerced statement, an improperly admitted letter, and a 14-year delay in deciding his new trial motion.
3. Davis argues that the trial court improperly admitted as evidence at trial a letter that Liberty County jail personnel opened, violating his reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment. However, because the record shows that opening the letter was for security and maintenance purposes, rather than for prosecutorial purposes, the search...
Franks testified that “[i]n all cases, . . . all mail that comes into the jail is [opened and] monitored for contraband . . . unless it’s marked from an attorney.” He also confirmed that, in this case, what they “essentially . . . were concerned with . . . [was] investigating inside the letter to find out who the letter actually like a suicide. The letter...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 29, 2020
FRAZEN v. DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF ATLANTA
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a trial court's approval of up to $1.25 billion in revenue bonds to help finance The Gulch redevelopment project in downtown Atlanta, rejecting citizens' challenges to the process and the funding structure.
Citing cases such as Tyree v. Jackson, 226 Ga. 690, 694 (2) (177 SE2d 160) (1970), and Titelman v. Stedman, 277 Ga. 460, 461 (591 SE2d 774) (2003), the Intervenors nonetheless contend that they could not have become parties and the trial could not have begun until the trial court entered a written order granting their intervention. The cases cited by the...
IT IS FURTHER DECLARED, ORDERED, AND ADJUDGED, as a matter of fact and law, that both the issuance of the EZ Bonds and the security therefor, are sound, feasible and reasonable, as demonstrated by the evidence adduced at the hearing, including the fact that the bonds will be issued only upon proof of work completed and expenditures made[.] Isolating this...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · May 4, 2020
Hill v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): 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.
A trial court’s decision to shackle a defendant “‘must be subjected to close judicial scrutiny to determine if there was an essential state interest furthered by compelling a defendant to wear shackles and whether less restrictive, less prejudicial methods of restraint were considered or could have been employed.’” United States v. Durham, 287 F3d 1297,...
The record is mostly silent as to what was included in the trial court’s first security plan and why the trial court came to its security decision. Although the trial court referenced numerous pre-trial meetings and hearings in support of its decision to keep Hill visibly shackled, neither the transcripts of those hearings nor the security plan itself are...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · July 1, 2020
Middleton v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a man convicted of both hijacking a car and receiving that same stolen car cannot legally hold both convictions, because the two verdicts contradict each other. The court also held he did not need to object at trial to raise the problem later.
4 See Code 1863, §§ 4382, 4383; Code 1868, §§ 4420, 4421; Code 1873, §§ 4488, 4489; Code 1882, §§ 4488, 4489; Penal Code 1895, §§ 171, 172; Penal Code 1910, §§ 168, 169; Code 1933, §§ 26-2620, 26-2621; Code 1933, § 26-1806. Georgia courts held that a person could not be convicted for both taking and receiving the same property. See Minor v. State, 58 Ga....
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 5, 2020
Glenn v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that Georgia's common-law right to resist an unlawful arrest also allows a person to use proportionate force against government property, such as a police car, while trying to escape an unlawful detention.
16 Blackstone wrote: The confinement of a person, in any wise, is an imprisonment. So that . . . arresting or forcibly detaining him in the street, is an imprisonment. . . . To make imprisonment lawful, it must either be by process from the courts of judicature, or by warrant from some legal officer having authority to commit to prison; which warrant must...
18 Blackstone wrote: When a delinquent is arrested by any of the means [authorized], he ought regularly to be carried before a justice of the peace. . . . The justice, before whom such prisoner is brought, is bound immediately to examine the circumstances of the crime alleged: and to this end by statute . . . he is to take in writing the examination of such...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · October 5, 2020
Premier Health Care Investments, LLC v. Uhs of Anchor, L.P
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a state health agency exceeded its authority when it required a hospital to get a new permit before shifting existing beds into a psychiatric program, because state law does not list bed shuffling as something needing that approval.
More recently, however, we construed “including” in context as a term of expansion. In Wetzel, we held that “including,” as used in a statute prohibiting the electronic furnishing of obscene material to minors, introduced a non-exhaustive list of how someone could make such material available to minors.9 There, we reasoned that “including” was “followed by...
4. Conclusion. Based on the foregoing analysis, we hold that OCGA § 31-6-40 (a) provides an exhaustive list of new institutional health services for which a CON is required. The General Assembly’s delegation of legislative authority to the Department to promulgate rules as part of its administration of the CON program does not include the authority to...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · July 15, 2020
In the Matter of Neil Richard Flit
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted an Atlanta-area attorney's request to give up his law license after he admitted holding onto client settlement funds for years without paying them out or explaining what happened to the money.
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the report of the special master, who recommends that the Court accept the petition for voluntary surrender of license filed by Neil Richard Flit (State Bar No. 091307) after the filing of a formal complaint, pursuant to Bar Rule 4-227 (c). In his petition, Flit requested that he be allowed to...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · September 28, 2020
Eggleston v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Stewart County man's felony murder conviction for killing his neighbor, finding that direct testimony and forensic evidence gave the jury enough to convict him beyond a reasonable doubt.
In July 2015, Eggleston went before the judge again to note that Byrd was late on his rent and to request a dispossessory warrant. Byrd was served with a dispossessory warrant on July 6. timely notice of appeal on February 4, 2020, and the case was docketed in this Court to the August 2020 term and submitted for a decision on the briefs. In response, Byrd...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 29, 2020
BOWDEN v. THE MEDICAL CENTER (And Vice Versa)
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a class action against a Georgia hospital over its billing rates could not proceed, and that uninsured patients could not sue for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, or racketeering just because the hospital charged its standard rate.
In order to perfect [a hospital] lien provided for in Code Section 44-14-470, the operator of the hospital . . . [s]hall file in the office of the clerk of the superior court of the county in which the hospital . . . is located and in the [Georgia] county wherein the patient resides . . . a verified statement setting forth . . . the amount claimed to be due...
In order to perfect the lien provided for in Code Section 44- 14-470, the operator of the hospital, nursing home, physician practice, or provider of traumatic burn care medical practice: (1) Shall, not less than 15 days prior to the date of filing the statement required under paragraph (2) of this subsection, provide written notice to the patient and, to...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · June 1, 2020
Global Payments, Inc. v. Incomm Financial Services, Inc
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a payment processor cannot be sued for negligent misrepresentation simply for passing along fraudulent refund data it received from merchants, because it never claimed the data was accurate.
InComm issues pre-paid debit and credit cards under the “Vanilla VISA” brand to cardholders who use the cards to buy goods and services. Global is a financial data payment processor. Global provides its clients, primarily merchants, with payment technology hardware and software that allows them to accept card payments and to communicate electronically with...
308 Ga. 842 FINAL COPY S19G1000. GLOBAL PAYMENTS, INC. v. INCOMM FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · November 12, 2020
Inquiry Concerning Judge Robert M. Crawford
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia dismissed a judicial discipline case against a former Griffin Circuit superior court judge, declining to impose a lifetime ban on holding judicial office after he had already resigned.
1. At the direction of the JQC’s Investigative Panel, the Director filed a formal complaint against Crawford. The complaint alleged that Crawford violated CJC Rule 1.1 in two ways: (1) by “impermissibly converting money from the registry of the Superior Court of Pike County . . . when he ordered the Pike County Clerk via handwritten note to disburse...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · January 27, 2020
Redding v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a DeKalb County man's murder conviction, rejecting claims that his trial lawyer botched cross-examination of two witnesses and that the trial judge wrongly blocked impeachment evidence.
307 Ga. 722 FINAL COPY S19A1302. REDDING v. THE STATE.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · August 24, 2020
SYNOVUS BANK D/B/A FIRST COMMUNITY BANK OF TIFTON v. KELLEY
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that a judgment creditor does not get a lien on a debtor's real property until the judgment is actually recorded in the county where the property sits, not when the judgment is first entered by a court.
FINAL COPY 309 Ga. 654 S20Q0843. SYNOVUS BANK v. KELLEY.
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · January 13, 2020
Harris v. State
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld a Cobb County man's murder conviction, finding no plain error in admitting his pre-trial statements to police and no ineffective assistance in his lawyer's handling of his decision to speak with detectives.
On December 31, Harris, who is deaf, sent text messages to Neil, and the two negotiated a price for sex acts. Harris was not informed that he was texting with Neil, as Neil pretended to be James. Unbeknownst to Harris, Neil watched from his car in the hotel parking lot as Harris arrived at the hotel just prior to 4:00 a.m. on January 1, 2013. Neil sent...
But when, as in this case, the trial court has neither been briefed on nor apprised of any specific objection to the admission of the defendant’s statements, then the trial court cannot have made a definitive ruling with respect to the unmade objection. Moreover, the court’s ruling did not relieve Harris of his obligation to object to the admission of his...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · December 21, 2020
In the Matter of Christopher John Palazzola
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia suspended Atlanta attorney Christopher Palazzola from practicing law, but since he had already voluntarily stopped practicing on June 1, 2020, the suspension was backdated and he was immediately reinstated with conditions requiring a law practice management review.
Recognizing that other states also have attorney disciplinary systems, we also have looked outside Georgia for guidance. The ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, on which many states’ professional conduct rules are generally based, includes a rule with language similar — but not identical — to Georgia’s Rule 8.4 (a) (4). ABA Model Rule 8.4 (c) provides:...
(c) Retirement accounts. Palazzola promised the two attorney associates mentioned above that he would set up retirement accounts for them and that his law firm would match their respective contributions up to a certain percentage of salary. Palazzola then caused the retirement account contributions to be withheld from their salaries according to their...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · February 10, 2020
In the Matter of Melvin T. Johnson
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia disbarred attorney Melvin T. Johnson after finding he repeatedly neglected clients, mishandled client funds, forged documents, and ignored the State Bar's disciplinary process across five separate cases.
comply with discovery where trial court can otherwise determine willfulness on the part of the party against whom the sanctions are sought). Accordingly, there was no abuse of the special master’s discretion in striking Johnson’s answers and finding him in default as a sanction for failure to engage in discovery. See, e.g., In the Matter of Jefferson, 307...
As did the special master, we look to the American Bar Association’s Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions (1992), see In the Matter of Morse, 266 Ga. 652, 653 (470 SE2d 232) (1996), and find the following aggravating circumstances present: prior disciplinary offenses (a Formal Letter of Admonition and two Investigative Panel Reprimands in 2006); a...
Supreme Court opinion · Supreme Court of Georgia · April 6, 2020
In the Matter of Matthew A. Dickason
Summary by Georgia Commons (AI-written): The Supreme Court of Georgia accepted an Atlanta-area lawyer's request to give up his law license after he admitted failing to account for client trust funds tied to real estate closings.
308 Ga. 411 FINAL COPY S19Y1450. IN THE MATTER OF MATTHEW A. DICKASON.
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