• Everson v. Dekalb County School District et al.

    Publication Date: 2018-03-02
    Practice Area: Employment Litigation | Government
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Judge Self
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Louise Hornsby (The Hornsby Law Firm, LLC), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Josie Alexander (Alexander & Associates), Atlanta; Marquetta Bryan (Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP), Atlanta; Bernard Taylor, Kelly Etchells (Alston & Bird LLP), Atlanta, for appellee.

    Case Number: A17A1430

    The trial court properly dismissed plaintiff's claims against his former employer, a school district, and the district's former superintendent in his official capacity but erred in dismissing the claims against the former superintendent in his personal capacity arising out of plaintiff's termination following his alleged report of illegal activities at the school.

  • Barnett et al. v. Caldwell

    Publication Date: 2018-02-27
    Practice Area: Government | Wrongful Death
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Grant
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Sidney Leighton Moore, III (The Moore Law Firm, P.C.), Atlanta; Shean DeCarlos Williams (The Cochran Firm Atlanta), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Cheryl Lynn Haas, Halima Horton, Kurt Eric Lentz, (McGuire Woods LLP), Atlanta; Matthew Allen Fitzgerald (McGuire Woods LLP), Richmond; Phillip L. Hartley (Harben, Hartley & Hawkins, LLP), Gainesville, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17G0641

    A teacher was entitled to official immunity in a wrongful death suit brought by parents of a child who died in the teacher's classroom while the teacher was out of the room, because the complained-of actions were discretionary and plaintiffs did not present evidence of actual malice or intent to injure.

  • State Of Georgia et al. v. International Indemnity Company et al.

    Publication Date: 2018-02-09
    Practice Area: Government
    Industry: Insurance
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Presiding Judge McFadden
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Isaac Byrd, Deputy Attorney General, Daniel S. Walsh, Jeffrey W. Stump, Senior Assistant Attorneys General, Sarah H. Warren, Solicitor-General, for State of Georgia et al.
    for defendant: Barnes & Thornburg, Thomas J. Gallo, for International Indemnity Company et al. Robbins Ross Alloy Belinfante Littlefield, Richard L. Robbins, Alexander F. Denton, for Regulatory Technologies, Inc.

    Case Number: A17A1195

    The trial court erred in finding that the State of Georgia waived sovereign immunity under the Insurers Rehabilitation and Liquidation Act as to claims for payment of administrative expenses and attorney fees.

  • Roberts et al. v. Mulkey et al.

    Publication Date: 2018-02-09
    Practice Area: Government | Personal Injury
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Presiding Judge Ellington
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Kam, Ebersbach & Lewis, Brian D. Lewis, Randy J. Ebersbach, for appellants.
    for defendant: Owen Gleaton Egan Jones & Sweeney, W. Seaborn Jones, Derrick L. Bingham, for appellees.

    Case Number: A17A1324

    In plaintiffs' personal injury suit, the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to defendant on the basis of official immunity because defendant negligently failed to perform a ministerial act and official immunity thus did not bar the suit.

  • In Re Estate Of Joe Leonard, Jr.

    Publication Date: 2018-01-16
    Practice Area: Civil Procedure | Government | Personal Injury
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Presiding Judge McFadden
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Timothy Allred, R. Waycaster (Attorney at Law), Dalton, for appellant.
    for defendant: Steven Rodham, Ronald Womack (Womack, Gottlieb & Rodham, PC.), Lafayette, for appellee.

    Case Number: A15A1802

    A presentment of a claim against a county under O.C.G.A. § 36-11-1 may be submitted to the governing authority by way of the county attorney as a matter of law, regardless of whether the attorney is an inside or outside county attorney; accordingly, the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to county after finding that plaintiff failed to comply with the statutory requirements for presentment in his negligence action arising after he was injured while riding a county-operated bus.

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  • Wingler et al. v. White et al.

    Publication Date: 2017-12-18
    Practice Area: Government | Motor Vehicle Torts
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
    Judge: Presiding Judge Barnes
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: William Lanham, Clark McGehee (Johnson & Ward), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Derrick Bingham, Melissa Reading, W. Jones (Owen, Gleaton, Egan, Jones & Sweeney, LLP), Atlanta; Adam Ford (Page Law LLC), Marietta, for appellee.

    Case Number: A17A1549

    The trial court erred in granting summary judgment to sheriff in plaintiffs' suit arising after they were injured when a suspect who was fleeing law enforcement crashed a vehicle into their car because, construing the evidence in favor of plaintiffs, genuine issues of material fact existed as to whether sheriff's deputies acted with reckless disregard for proper law enforcement procedures in continuing the high-speed chase.

  • Smith v. Northside Hospital, Inc. et al.

    Publication Date: 2017-11-30
    Practice Area: Government | Public Records
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Peter Crane Canfield, Brian Charles Lea (Jones Day), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Thurbert E. Baker, Bryan Eugene Bates, James Randolph Evans, Nathan L. Garroway (Dentons US LLP), Atlanta; Stephen Derek Bauer, Ian Kyle Byrnside, James C. Rawls (Baker Hostetler LLP), Atlanta, for appellee. David E. Hudson, James Brian Ellington (Hull Barrett, PC), Augusta; Steven Elliot Scheer (Scheer Montgomery & Call), Savannah; Sarah Renee Craig (Akerman LLP), Tampa, for amicus appellant. Lee Barrett Carter, Norman S. Fletcher (Brinson Askew Berry Seigler Richardson & Davis, LLP), Rome; Jonathan C. Peters (Peters & Monyak, LLP), Atlanta; Steven P. Gilliam, Roger Brent Hatcher, Jr. (Smith, Gilliam, Williams & Miles, P.A.), Gainesville; Kelly Jean Long Pridgen (Association County Commissioners of Georgia), Atlanta; G. Joseph Scheuer (Assistant General Counsel), Atlanta, for amicus appellee. Annette M. Cowart, Sarah Hawkins Warren, Russell David Willard, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta, for neutral amicus. Charles T. Huddleston, S. Wade Malone, Jessica Rutledge Watson (Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP), Atlanta; Jeremy Patrick Burnette, Sidney Summers Welch (Polsinelli, P.C.), Atlanta; Edward Charles Konieczny (Edward C. Konieczny LLC), Atlanta, for other party.

    Case Number: S16G1463

    The trial court and Court of Appeals applied the wrong legal standard in dismissing attorney's action to compel hospital to provide him with access to certain documents in response to his request under the Georgia Open Records Act.

  • Emanuel, et al. v. Kautz

    Publication Date: 2017-11-21
    Practice Area: Civil Procedure | Government
    Industry: State and Local Government
    Court: Court of Appeals
    Judge: Presiding Judge Miller
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Anthony Powell, Wesley Ross, Joseph Emanuel (Webb, Tanner & Powell, PC.), Lawrenceville, for appellant.
    for defendant: Phyllis Miller (Attorney at Law), Lawrenceville, for appellee. Zahra Karinshak (Krevolin & Horst, LLC), Atlanta; S. Tate (Akin & Tate), Cartersville, for other party.

    Case Number: A17A1284

    The trial court properly awarded appellate attorney fees to Snellville mayor after she successfully appealed the trial court's decision in her declaratory judgment action against the members of the City Council in which she sought a declaration that she had sole authority to terminate the employment of the city attorney.

  • Atwater et al. v. Tucker

    Publication Date: 2017-11-20
    Practice Area: Constitutional Law | Government
    Industry: Education | State and Local Government
    Court: Court of Appeals
    Judge: Judge Mercier
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Janet Scott, A. Welch (Smith, Welch, Webb & White, LLC), McDonough; Larry Mims, Ross Pittman (Attorney at Law), Tifton; Megan Pearson (Attorney at Law), McDonough, for appellant.
    for defendant: Craig Webster (Attorney at Law), Tifton, for appellee.

    Case Number: A17A0722

    County school officials were entitled to official immunity in teacher's suit under 42 USC § 1983 alleging that they violated her First Amendment rights by disciplining her after she posted a particular comment on a social media website and the trial court thus erred in denying their motion for judgment on the pleadings.

  • The State v. Peabody

    Publication Date: 2017-11-20
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals | Government
    Industry:
    Court: Court of Appeals
    Judge: Presiding Judge Miller
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Cliff Head (Assistant District Attorney Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit), Canton; Lara Snow (Cherokee County D.A.'S Office), Canton; Shannon Wallace (District Attorney), Canton, for appellant.
    for defendant: David Willingham (Willingham Law Firm, P.C.), Marietta, for appellee.

    Case Number: A17A1258

    The trial court properly granted former lieutenant's motion to quash an indictment against him for two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals in connection with the hot-car death of his K-9 dog because he was acting within the scope of his official job duties when the alleged crimes occurred and he was therefore entitled to the protections afforded by O.C.G.A. § 17-7-52, including timely notice of the grand jury proceeding and a copy of the proposed indictment, but State failed to comply with those statutory mandates.