• National Casualty Company v. Georgia School Boards Association - Risk Management Fund

    Publication Date: 2018-09-12
    Practice Area: Insurance Law | Insurance Litigation
    Industry: Insurance
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Chief Justice Hines
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Jay Russell Sever, Katie Myers, (Phelps Dunbar-La), New Orleans, Michael J. Rust, David Christopher Sawyer, (Gray, Rust, St. Amand, Moffett & Brieske, LLP), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Thomas Kearney Wingfield, C. Michael Johnson, (Hall Booth Smith, P.C.-ATL), Atlanta, for appellee.

    Case Number: S18Q0757

    Court Answers Certified Question in Favor of Commercial Insurer in Dispute over Overlapping Coverage with State School Boards' Interlocal Risk Management Fund

  • National Casualty Company v. Georgia School Boards Association - Risk Management Fund

    Publication Date: 2018-08-31
    Practice Area: Education Law | Insurance Law
    Industry: Education | Insurance
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Chief Justice Hines
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Jay Russell Sever, Katie Myers, (Phelps Dunbar-LA), New Orleans, Michael J. Rust, David Christopher Sawyer, (Gray, Rust, St. Amand, Moffett & Brieske, LLP) Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Thomas Kearney Wingfield, C. Michael Johnson, (Hall Booth Smith, P.C.-ATL), Atlanta, for appellee.

    Case Number: S18Q0757

    Commercial Insurers May Lawfully Provide Coverage Excess to Coverage Provided by Pooled Risk Funds Established by School Boards

  • Georgia Department of Human Services, Division of Family and Children Services v. Christopher Steiner

    Publication Date: 2018-07-12
    Practice Area: Constitutional Law | Family Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Grant
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Ross Warren Bergethon, Annette M. Cowart, Sarah Hawkins Warren, Penny Hannah, Shalen S. Nelson, Andrew Alan Pinson, Christopher M. Carr, Victoria Cuneo Powell (Department of Law), Atlanta; Kenneth Gene Lawrence (Turner & Lawrence PC), Jackson, for appellant.
    for defendant: Joseph Scott Key, Kayci Nicole Dennis (Miller & Key PA), McDonough, for appellee. Andrew Santos Fleischman (Ross & Pines LLC), Atlanta; Laura D. Hogue (Hogue & Hogue LLP), Macon; Charles R. Bliss, Mara Leah Block (Atlanta Legal Aid Society Inc), Atlanta; Lisa Jane Krisher, Michael Joseph Tafelski, Jamie B.J. Rush (Georgia Legal Services Program), Atlanta; David Alfred Webster, Atlanta, for amicus appellee.

    Case Number: S18A0281

    The superior court erred in finding that Georgia's central child abuse registry is unconstitutional, both on its face and as applied to appellee.

  • Szorcsik v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-06-18
    Practice Area: Constitutional Law | Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Melton
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Troy Edward Golden, John Robert Mobley II, John G. Wolinski (Dougherty Circuit Public Defender's Office), Tifton, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Ashleigh Dene Headrick (Department of Law), Atlanta; Clifford Paul Bowden (Tifton Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Tifton, for appellee.

    Case Number: S18A0461

    The trial court did not err in concluding that, under the totality of the circumstances, defendant knowingly and voluntarily waived his previously-invoked right to counsel after choosing to reinitiate communication with law enforcement officials.

  • Norman v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-05-25
    Practice Area: Constitutional Law | Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Blackwell
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Amy Lee Copeland (Rouse & Copeland LLC), Savannah, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Ashleigh Dene Headrick, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; John Thomas Durden Jr., Brooklyn Renee Franklin (Atlantic Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Hinesville, for appellee.

    Case Number: S18A0331

    Trial Counsel Not Ineffective For Stipulating To Substance of Witness Testimony Regarding Prior Crime

  • Chrysler Group LLC n/k/a FCA US LLC v. Walden et al.

    Publication Date: 2018-04-25
    Practice Area: Damages | Wrongful Death
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Grant
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Terry Otho Brantley, Mary Diane Owens, Bradley S. Wolff (Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers, LLP), Atlanta; Thomas H. Dupree Jr., Rajiv Mohan (Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP), Washington, for appellant.
    for defendant: Karsten Bicknese, Robert Howard Betts (Seacrest, Karesh, Tate & Bicknese, LLP), Atlanta; James E. Butler Jr. (Butler, Wooten Cheely & Peak LLP), Atlanta; James Edward Butler III (Butler Tobin LLC), Atlanta; Cathy Cox (Mercer Law School), Macon; George C. Floyd (Floyd & Kendrick LLC), Bainbridge; Leigh Martin May (Butler, Wooten, Overby, Fryhofer), Atlanta; Michael Brian Terry, Frank Mitchell Lowrey IV (Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, LLP), Atlanta; David Thomas Rohwedder (Butler Wooten & Peak LLP), Atlanta, for appellee. Michael Roger Boorman (Huff, Powell & Bailey, LLC), Atlanta; Brian David Boone, Kyle G.A. Wallace, Caroline M. Rawls, William Herman Jordan (Alston & Bird LLP), Atlanta; Christopher Randall Jordan (Hunter Maclean Exley & Dunn), Brunswick; Martin Adam Levinson (Hawkins Parnell Thackston & Young LLP), Atlanta; Garret Warrington Meader (Drew ECKL & Farnham LLP), Brunswick; James Randolph Evans, Anthony Wyatt Morris (Dentons US LLP), Atlanta, for amicus appellant. Matthew Britt Stoddard (The Stoddard Firm), Atlanta, for amicus appellee. Therese S. Barnes (Georgia Supreme Court), Atlanta, for other party. Ashby K. Fox, Louis G. Fiorilla (Burr & Forman LLP), Atlanta; Forrest S. Latta (Burr & Forman LLP), Mobile; D. Victor Reynolds, John Stuart Melvin, Michael Scott Carlson, John Richard Edwards, Amelia Greeson Pray (Cobb County District Attorney's Office), Marietta, for neutral amicus.

    Case Number: S17G0832

    The Court of Appeals did not err in affirming the trial court's decision finding that the compensation of the CEO of a car manufacturing company was admissible in a wrongful death suit because the prejudicial effect of the evidence did not outweigh its probative value pursuant to Rule 403.

  • Cooper Tire & Rubber Company v. Koch et al.

    Publication Date: 2018-04-25
    Practice Area: Civil Procedure | Evidence | Products Liability
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Nahmias
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Laurie Webb Daniel (Holland & Knight LLP), Atlanta; Reed Thomas Warburton, (Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP), Birmingham; George R. Neuhauser (Nall & Miller LLP), Atlanta; Scott Burnett Smith (Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP), Huntsville, for appellant.
    for defendant: Katherine Lee McArthur, Caleb Frank Walker, Laura K. Hinson Penn (Katherine L. McArthur LLC), Macon; Tracey Lynn Dellacona (Dellaconna Law Firm), Macon, for appellee. Ashby K. Fox, Louis G. Fiorilla (Burr & Forman LLP), Atlanta; Forrest S. Latta (Burr & Forman LLP), Mobile; Brian David Boone (Alston & Bird LLP), Charlotte; Leonard Searcy II (Shook, Hardy & Bacon, L.L.P.), Kansas City; Philip S. Goldberg (Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP), Washington, for amicus appellant. Stephen Christopher Collier (Hawkins & Parnell, LLP), Atlanta; Michael Atkinson Arndt (Hawkins Parnell Thackston & Young, LLP), Atlanta; George Lee Welborn (Downey, Cleveland, Parker & Williams), Marietta, for other party.

    Case Number: S17G0654

    The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant's motion to dismiss, or alternatively, to bar certain evidence as a sanction for spoliation of evidence, as the record supported the trial court's conclusion that litigation was not reasonably foreseeable when plaintiff destroyed the evidence.

  • Franklin v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-09
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Benham
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Jerilyn Lyshette Bell, Josh David Moore, Gerald P. Word (Georgia Capital Defenders), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Matthew Blackwell Crowder, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; Emily Kathleen Richardson, Brian Keith Fortner, Sean Alexander Garrett (Douglas County District Attorney's Office), Douglasville, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1599

    The trial court properly concluded that it had no authority to determine prior to trial whether the aggravating circumstances State alleged would be sufficiently proved by the evidence to support the imposition of the death penalty.

  • Franklin v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-07
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Benham
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Jerilyn Lyshette Bell, Josh David Moore, Gerald P. Word (Georgia Capital Defenders), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Matthew Blackwell Crowder, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; Emily Kathleen Richardson, Brian Keith Fortner, Sean Alexander Garrett (Douglas County District Attorney's Office), Douglasville, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1599

    The trial court properly concluded that it had no authority to determine prior to trial whether the aggravating circumstances State alleged would be sufficiently proved by the evidence to support the imposition of the death penalty.