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Full-Text Articles in Law
Complicated Mercy: Compensating The Wrongfully Convicted In Georgia, Elizabeth O'Roark
Complicated Mercy: Compensating The Wrongfully Convicted In Georgia, Elizabeth O'Roark
Georgia Law Review
An exoneree’s story does not end when they walk out of prison and back into society. After spending years in prison for a crime they did not commit, the exoneree must rebuild a life with years of lost income, little credit, and no retirement. Georgia is one of the few states that does not have a statute setting out how to fairly and efficiently compensate its exonerees. Exonerees must instead ask state representatives to present a resolution to the General Assembly. If the resolution passes through both chambers of the legislature, then the exoneree can receive some compensation for the …
Socially Distant Signing: Why Georgia Should Adopt Remote Will Execution In The Post-Covid World, Jessie Daniel Rankin
Socially Distant Signing: Why Georgia Should Adopt Remote Will Execution In The Post-Covid World, Jessie Daniel Rankin
Georgia Law Review
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and other state governors issued emergency executive orders authorizing the attestation and execution of wills, trusts, and other testamentary documents through the use of audio-video technology. Most states have traditionally required that such testamentary documents be signed in the physical presence of two or more witnesses to be valid. Georgia’s executive order permits these witnesses to instead observe the signing via video-conferencing software, alleviating the requirement that the witnesses be physically present with the testator. This authorization, however, only exists through this executive order and could lapse or be …
Boom Or Bust: Ensuring The Georgia State-Wide Business Court Fulfills Its Constitutional Promise, Roya Naghepour
Boom Or Bust: Ensuring The Georgia State-Wide Business Court Fulfills Its Constitutional Promise, Roya Naghepour
Georgia Law Review
The United States judiciary includes specialized court systems within its baseline civil and criminal justice structure that provide more efficient and expert adjudication in a wide variety of areas. Since the creation of the Delaware Court of Chancery in 1792, many states have established specialized business courts with jurisdiction over commercial and corporate disputes. Today, many states have business court models, all choosing to employ some version of a specialized forum for corporate and commercial issues for the sake of judicial efficiency. The Georgia State-wide Business Court was established in 2019 with limited jurisdiction over narrow categories of commercial disputes. …
Puppies, Puppies, Puppies: Why Georgia Should “Adopt” A Progressive Puppy Lemon Law And Engage In Much-Needed Statutory Reform, Jonathan T. Tortorici
Puppies, Puppies, Puppies: Why Georgia Should “Adopt” A Progressive Puppy Lemon Law And Engage In Much-Needed Statutory Reform, Jonathan T. Tortorici
Georgia Law Review
The Georgia Animal Protection Act—a set of animal
protection laws that has remained unchanged for nearly two
decades—was passed to promote animal welfare across the
state. Although the Act was progressive at its inception, its
failure to curb the atrocious conditions created by puppy mills
has become increasingly apparent, resulting in serious
consequences for both consumers and dogs. Georgia must
amend its animal protection laws to shift the costs of puppy
mills to where they belong: on pet sellers. Among other
innovative solutions to this problem, many states have enacted
“puppy lemon laws” that generally provide pet purchasers with
the …
How Devolved Is Too Devolved?: A Comparative Analysis Examining The Allocation Of Power Between State And Local Government Through The Lens Of The Confederate Monument Controversy, W. Davis Riddle
Georgia Law Review
At various critical junctures in our nation’s history, lawmakers have struggled to strike the proper balance between centralization and delegation of authority. Recently, the debate over whether to remove Confederate monuments has again brought to the fore this centuries-old struggle. Beginning in 2000, state legislatures throughout the South enacted statutes primarily designed to protect Civil War monuments, which in the South predominantly pay tribute to the Confederate cause. Recent attempts by Southern localities to remove Confederate monuments have revealed the inadequacy of these recently-enacted statutes. Virtually every state legislature that has successfully passed a statute on the topic has produced …
The Elephant Not In The Room: Apportionment To Nonparties In Georgia, Michael K. Newman
The Elephant Not In The Room: Apportionment To Nonparties In Georgia, Michael K. Newman
Georgia Law Review
Apportionment to nonparties generally concerns defendants alleging that certain nonparties are also at fault for the plaintiffs harm. A defendant's successful allocation of fault to a nonparty results in the defendant shedding a portion of their liability toward the plaintiff. If joint and several liability has been abolished, then this means that the plaintiff will collect less damages from the named defendant. This Note addresses how current practice in Georgia allows the defendant to do this with very little effort. Specifically, this Note takes issue with a recent Georgia Court of Appeals decision, Double View Ventures, LLC v. Polite, 757 …
Laissez Fair:The Case For Alternative Litigation Funding And Assignment Of Lawsuit Proceeds In Georgia, David T. Adams
Laissez Fair:The Case For Alternative Litigation Funding And Assignment Of Lawsuit Proceeds In Georgia, David T. Adams
Georgia Law Review
This Note discusses the value of alternative litigation funding (ALF) and the legal challenges affecting the ALF industry in Georgia. More specifically, it identifies a way to maximize ALF's benefits for plaintiffs with personal tort and employment discrimination claims. Tort victims who are rendered incapable of working, and employees who have lost jobs because of workplace discrimination or retaliation,face immediate financial burdens-they may be unable to afford food, housing, health care, transportation, and other necessities. This economic pressure often forces plaintiffs to settle quickly for less than the value of the harm inflicted. But ALF companies offer a workable solution …
Skimming From The 2%: The Status Of Georgia's Restrictions On Shareholder Access To Corporate Information, Ruari J. O'Sullivan
Skimming From The 2%: The Status Of Georgia's Restrictions On Shareholder Access To Corporate Information, Ruari J. O'Sullivan
Georgia Law Review
The Georgia Court of Appeals, in Mannato v. SunTrust
Banks, Inc., held that O.C.G.A. § 14-2-1602 abrogated all
common law rights to inspect corporate records. As a
result, shareholders in Georgia owning less than 2% of a
corporation'soutstandingshares suddenly lost the right to
petition a court to grant access to a corporation's books
and records. This Note argues that the Mannato decision
was incorrect. The Georgia Court of Appeals failed to
notice the significant procedural differences that existed
between the statutory and common law right of inspection
and erroneously applied Georgia's established law of
statutory abrogation. The court also brushed …
The Chevron Two-Step In Georgia's Administrative Law, David E. Shipley
The Chevron Two-Step In Georgia's Administrative Law, David E. Shipley
Georgia Law Review
Like federal and state administrative agencies
throughout the nation, Georgia's many boards,
commissions and authorities make policy when they apply
their governing statutes in promulgating regulations and
in ruling on specific matters like granting or denying an
application for a permit or determining the residency of a
candidate for public office. Sometimes governing statutes
are clear, but sometimes there is ambiguity. When there is
ambiguity in the governing statute, an agency must
interpret that legislation when it promulgates regulations
or decides a particular contested matter. This Article asks
and answers the fundamental question of what deference,
if any, must a …