• 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.

  • Tucker v. Atwater et al.

    Publication Date: 2018-06-25
    Practice Area: Constitutional Law | Government
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: N/a
    for defendant: N/a

    Case Number: S18C0437

    The Supreme Court denied teacher's petition for certiorari after the Court of Appeals reversed the denial of summary judgment to county school officials in teacher's suit under 42 USC § 1983 alleging that officials violated her First Amendment rights by disciplining her after she posted a particular comment on a social media website.

  • Caffee v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-05-29
    Practice Area: Constitutional Law | Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Gregory A. Hicks (Law Offices of Gregory A. Hicks), Woodstock, for appellant.
    for defendant: David Martin McElyea, Jessica K. Moss, Carlton Todd Hayes (Cherokee County Solicitor General's Office), Canton, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17G1691

    Probable Cause Will Not Justify Warrantless Search Absent Exception to Warrant Requirement

  • 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.

  • Kemp v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-03-15
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Konrad Gerhard Waldemar Ziegler, Christopher Ryan Lee (Lee & Ziegler, LLP), Canton, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Matthew Min-soo Youn, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; Michael Scott Carlson, John Stuart Melvin, D. Victor Reynolds, John Richard Edwards (Cobb County District Attorney's Office), Marietta, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1646

    The evidence supported defendants' convictions for malice murder and other crimes in connection with a planned robbery that turned fatal and the trial court properly admitted a former police informant's testimony about statements one of the defendants made to him while they were in jail together, as the former informant was not acting as a government agent at that time.