• Fortner v. Grange Mut. Ins. Co.

    Publication Date: 2009-10-30
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Nahmias, David E.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Robert B. Turner, Kathryn H. Pinckney Savage, Turner, Pinson & Karsman, Savannah, Jason L. Crawford Daughtery, Crawford, Fuller & Brown LLP, Columbus, and Darren W. Penn Harris, Penn & Lowry LLP, Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Robert R. Gunn II, Thomas P. Allen III Martin Snow LLP, Macon, and I. Gregory Hodges Oliver Maner, Savannah, for appellee.

    Case Number: S09G0492

    The trial court's jury charge was not consistent with the safe harbor provision recognized in Cotton States Mut. Ins. Co. v. Brightman, 276 Ga. 683

  • Goddard v. City of Albany

    Publication Date: 2009-10-30
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Benham, Robert
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Maurice L. King Jr., Albany, for appellant.
    for defendant: Donald A. Sweat and Kimberly A. Reid Gardner, Willis, Sweat & Goldsmith, Albany, for appellee.

    Case Number: S09A1102

    The appellant had no right to notice and a hearing prior to her termin

  • State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Staton

    Publication Date: 2009-10-30
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Thompson, Hugh P.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Cubbedge Snow III, Thomas P. Allen III Martin Snow LLP, Macon, for appellant.
    for defendant: John A. Owens, J. Clinton Sumner Jr. Magruder & Sumner and David F. Guldenschuh, Rome, for appellee. Amicus Appellants: J. Marcus E. Howard Pope & Howard PC, Clyde E. Rickard III Chambers, Aholt & Rickard LLP, Atlanta, and Jarome E. Gautreaux O'Neal, Brown & Sizemore, Macon.

    Case Number: S09G0348

    The plaintiff was not a named insured and was not entitled to stack the UM coverage in his employer's insurance policies covering two vehicles that were not involved in the underlying car acc

  • Hubbard v. State

    Publication Date: 2009-10-16
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: John D. Rasnick, Manchester, for appellant.
    for defendant: Peter J. Skandalakis, District Attorney, John M. Caldwell, Assistant District Attorney, LaGrange, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, and Reggie A. Lampkin, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.

    Case Number: S09A1235

    The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the defendant's motion to remove a prospective juror, who knew the victim's family from seeing them at local churches and who went to the fune

  • Atlanta Bread Co. Int'l Inc. v. Lupton-Smith

    Publication Date: 2009-07-10
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Benham, Robert
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: David M. Monde, Lucas W. Andrews Jones Day, Atlanta, and Douglas R. Cole, Columbus, Ohio, for appellant.
    for defendant: R. Randy Edwards, Scott A. Cochran Cochran & Edwards LLC, Smyrna, for appellees. Amicus appellant: William K. Whitner, Noelle Aagueux-Alvarez and John G. Parker Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, Atlanta.

    Case Number: S08G1815

    A restrictive covenant in a franchise agreement was unreasonable as a matter of law, because it contained shifting and expanding territorial restric

  • Brooks v. State

    Publication Date: 2009-03-20
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Sears, Leah Ward
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Dell Jackson, Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Paul L. Howard Jr., District Attorney, Marc A. Mallon, Senior Assistant District Attorney, Bettieanne C. Hart, Deputy District Attorney, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, and Amy E. H. Morelli, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.

    Case Number: S08A1647

    The aggravated assault victim identified the defendant as the gunman, who shot the murder victim to death, then fired several bullets at him, hitting him twice in the

  • Watkins v. State

    Publication Date: 2009-03-20
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Benham, Robert
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Brandon Lewis, Norcross, for appellant.
    for defendant: Paul L. Howard Jr., District Attorney, Bettieanne C. Hart, Deputy District Attorney, Elizabeth A. Baker, Assistant District Attorney, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, and Benjamin H. Pierman, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.

    Case Number: S08A1894

    The defendant and another man pistol-whipped and robbed two victims of their property, and while pistol whipping one victim, the defendant's .22 caliber gun went off and the bullet fatally wounded t

  • State v. Evans

    Publication Date: 2009-03-06
    Practice Area:
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    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Hines, P. Harris
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: James D. McDade, District Attorney, James A. Dooley, Jeffrey L. Ballew, Assistant District Attorneys, Douglasville, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Mary B. Westmoreland, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Paige E. Boorman, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Mary Erickson and M. Paul Reynolds Peters, Roberts, Reynolds and Erickson PC, Decatur, for appellee.

    Case Number: S08G0504

    A defendant's waiver of his right to counsel is valid, if the record reflects that the defendant ' "was made aware of the dangers of self-representation and nevertheless made a knowing and intellige

  • Schramm v. Lyon

    Publication Date: 2009-03-06
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Thompson, Hugh P.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Lori G. Cohen, Thomas J. Mazziotti, John B. Merchant III and Michael J. King Greenberg Traurig LLP, Jonathan C. Peters and Jeffrey S. Bazinet Peters & Monyak LLP, Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: . Daniel A. Ragland Ragland & Jones, Harvey R. Spiegel, Phillip C. Henry, Wendy G. Huray Henry, Spiegel, Fried & Milling LLP, Atlanta, for appellees. Amicus appellant: Norman S. Fletcher, Robert L. Berry Jr. and Ansel F. Beacham III Brinson, Askew, Berry, Seigler & Richardson, Rome. Amicus appellee: J. Marcus Howard Pope & Howard PC and Lyle G. Warshauer Warshauer, Poe & Thornton PC, Atlanta.

    Case Number: S08G1391, S08G1418

    The 5-year statute of repose did not bar the plaintiff's claims, arising from her development of an overwhelming post-splenectomy infection OPSI and her resulting partial loss of

  • Wright v. State

    Publication Date: 2009-03-06
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Benham, Robert
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: William J. Mason, Columbus, for appellant.
    for defendant: John G. Conger, District Attorney, Robert B. Bickerstaff II, Assistant District Attorney, Columbus, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, and Sara K. Sahni, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.

    Case Number: S08A1825

    The trial court properly admitted evidence of a similar transaction concerning the 5-year-old victim's infant brother, who suffered a black eye and cut lip, since the injuries occurred while the inf