Law Commons^™

Construction Law, David Cook, Peter Crofton

Mercer Law Review

The year 2020 brought about interesting judicial opinions in construction law addressing licensing issues, contractual, and common-law indemnity, including the anti-indemnity statute, homeowner’s association rights, and the recovery of lost profits on incomplete work. It also addressed standard construction-law issues in unique contexts, such as construction liens and insurance coverage and exclusions. Though the year faced the COVID-19 pandemic, decisions addressing the unprecedented circumstances caused by the virus will likely come in future years. This Article surveys significant judicial, regulatory, and legislative developments in Georgia construction law during the period from June 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021.

Business Associations, Stuart E. Walker

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys some noteworthy cases involving corporations and limited liability companies decided by the Georgia Court of Appeals between June 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021.

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

This Survey covers the period from June 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021. The Article discusses developments concerning attorney discipline, bar admission and reinstatement, malpractice and other civil claims, ineffective assistance of counsel, disqualification of counsel and conflicts of interest, judicial conduct and recusal, attorney’s fees and liens, contempt, formal advisory opinions, amendments to the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, and one miscellaneous matter.

Local Government, Russell A. Britt, Kelsey L. Kicklighter, Jennifer D. Herzog, Nick Kinsley, Jacob Stalvey O'Neal, Pearson K. Cunningham, Philip E. Friduss

Mercer Law Review

This Article addresses selected opinions and legislation of interest to the local government laws issued during the Survey period of this publication.

Administrative Law, Chelsea M. Lamb, Moses M. Tincher, Matthew M. White, Hannah M. Couch

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys cases from the Georgia Supreme Court and the Georgia Court of Appeals from June 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021, in which principles of administrative law were a central focus of the case. Review of decisions by administrative agencies will be the first topic discussed, followed by cases discussing discretionary appeals, followed by cases discussing procedural requirements, with scope of authority to follow. The Article will conclude with cases discussing statutory construction

Criminal Law, J. Scott Key

Mercer Law Review

This Article reviews some of the most important opinions impacting the practice of criminal law delivered by the Supreme Court of the United States and the Georgia Supreme Court covering the period from June 1, 2020, up until May 31, 2021, as well as legislation adopted by the Georgia General Assembly during the 2020 session. This Article is designed to be a mere overview to both prosecutors and defense attorneys of decisions and new statutes and serves as a broad guideline on how these decisions will affect the practices.

Evidence, John E. Hall Jr., W. Scott Henwood, Leesa Guarnotta

Mercer Law Review

The 2020 Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic brought with it many firsts, including a year-long moratorium on civil and criminal jury trials. As of June 2021, many counties across the state expected continued stays of civil jury trials. Nevertheless, Georgia’s appellate courts continued to develop Georgia’s evidence laws in the eighth year since the implementation of Georgia’s new Evidence Code. This Article discusses the developing evolution of the new Georgia Evidence Code, Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.) Title 24, by addressing developments of Georgia’s evidence rules from the period of June 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021. Specifically, this Article addresses: …

Commercial Transportation, Madeline E. Mcneeley, Sarah L. Adle, Elizabeth M. Brooks, Joshua H. Dorminy, Stephen G. Lowry

Mercer Law Review

Commercial transportation involves all the significant forms of passenger and freight transportation across the United States. This Article surveys significant judicial, regulatory, and legislative developments in Georgia commercial transportation law from June 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021.

Domestic Relations, Andrew B. Mcclintock, Allison C. Ellison

Mercer Law Review

This Article addresses significant case law and legislative updates to Georgia domestic relations law that arose during the Survey period from June 1, 2020 through May 31, 2021. Notably, this period includes the state of emergency declared by the Governor and statewide judicial emergency declared by Chief Justice Harold D. Melton on March 14, 2020, in response to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the state of Georgia during the first quarter of 2020. The majority of litigation deadlines were reinstated effective July 13, 2020, as part of the Fourth Order Extending Statewide Judicial Emergency issued by the …

Real Property, Erica L. Burchell

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys developments in Georgia real property law between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Real property law is unique in that it touches nearly every other facet of the law in some way. For instance, family law often intersects with real property law in cases of divorce. Contract law is often at the root of any real property sales or agreements—and also comes into play with issues of landlord-tenant disputes and evictions. Since real property can be, and often is, the largest asset people leave behind when they pass away, real property law certainly impacts estate law. …

State And Local Taxation, Brian Sengson, Blake Joiner, Kenda Williams

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys the most critical and comprehensive changes in Georgia law occurring between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Most notably, this Article discusses Georgia’s continued response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19); pass-through entity election for the state and local tax deduction cap workaround; amendments to deference accorded to determinations and interpretations issued by the Georgia Department of Revenue (Department); and other important topics impacting income tax, sales tax, and tax controversy.

Torts, Pamela A. Wilkins

Mercer Law Review

The Georgia Supreme Court’s torts decisions of the June 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021, survey period ran the gamut. Dog bite liability? Check. Proximate cause? Check. Negligent misrepresentation by a sperm bank? Alas, check. And apportionment of fault? Check, check, check. Two themes emerge from the cases of the past term. First, in the apportionment setting, one sees the court’s commitment to textualism and its readiness to interpret Georgia’s apportionment statutes as abrogating longstanding common-law doctrines. Second—and, not surprisingly, this is most apparent in the court’s business torts jurisprudence—one sees a deference to business interests: this is a business-friendly …

Trial Practice And Procedure, Brandon L. Peak, Joseph M. Colwell, Christopher B. Mcdaniel, Rory A. Weeks, Daniel E. Philyaw, L'Zandra V. Jones

Mercer Law Review

This Article addresses selected opinions and legislation of interest to the Georgia civil trial practitioner issued during the Survey period of this publication.

Insurance, Thomas D. Martin, Bradley S. Wolff, Maren R. Cave

Mercer Law Review

During this Survey period, the courts in Georgia remained active despite the pandemic. In the property arena, the Survey disclosed only a few decisions from the Georgia Court of Appeals but several from the district courts in Georgia as parties grappled with coverage disputes relating to policy time limits, bad faith, and the effects of COVID-19 on business losses. In the automobile arena, the Georgia Court of Appeals addressed sovereign immunity, and the Georgia Supreme Court refined the “cause test” for evaluating a series of collisions. In the uninsured motorist (UM) arena, the court of appeals weighed in on various …

Wills, Trusts, Guardianships, And Fiduciary Administration, Mary F. Radford

Mercer Law Review

This Article discusses significant cases decided by the Georgia Court of Appeals during the period of June 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021, pertaining to Georgia fiduciary law, guardianship, and estate planning. This Article also describes the highlights of legislation contained in a comprehensive bill that revised and clarified the laws relating to wills, trusts, and the administration of estates and that became effective January 1, 2021.

Workers' Compensation, H. Michael Bagley, J. Benson Ward

Mercer Law Review

The June 1, 2020 through May 31, 2021 survey period was notable for a limited number of appellate decisions—which included an impactful decision from the Georgia Supreme Court overruling decades of prior precedent—and no legislation.

Zoning And Land Use Law, Newton M. Galloway, Steven L. Jones

Mercer Law Review

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically affected the world’s economy and supply chains during this Survey period. However, real estate development did not cease. In many urban and suburban areas, including the metropolitan Atlanta area, new development projects rose from the ground, despite the economic risks and challenges created by the pandemic. Nevertheless, the long-term impacts of the pandemic may fundamentally challenge many paradigms that have long sustained successful real estate development.

Prior to the pandemic, commercial retail developments, such as malls and destination shopping centers, were already in the economic doldrums due to the rise of e-commerce and their economic vitality …

Electronic Wills: Why Would Georgia Choose To Delay The Inevitable?, Jacob C. Wilson

Mercer Law Review

This Comment assesses the changes in Georgia’s laws regarding the formalities of wills and analyzes how acceptance of an electronic will in Georgia would be an acceptable response to the changing times. Part I analyzes how Georgia’s wills statutes have changed and discusses how the wills law came into fruition today. Part II analyzes the Electronic Wills Act, states that have passed statutes considering the Act, and a review of Georgia’s legislative approach to the Act. Part III reviews an in-depth analysis of (a state) that has passed the Electronic Wills Act that operates in a strict compliance jurisdiction. Part …

Trouble With Treble Damages For Third Parties: The Georgia Streetgang Terrorism And Prevention Act, S. Meghan Pittman

Mercer Law Review

As the Georgia Supreme Court has issued its final opinion on the Georgia Streetgang Terrorism and Prevention Act, several issues are now raised. While the interpretation of the statute appears to be correct, the question still arises of whether or not this interpretation is consistent with the legislative intent of this Act as a whole.

Clearly, the issue which the Act was enacted to prevent was harm to innocent third-parties by criminal streetgangs. While a commercial property owners may not be able to fully police the area in which their property is located, shouldn’t these individuals be held to a …

Trumped: Intentional Voter Suppression In The Wake Of The 2020 Election, Wesley N. Watts

Mercer Law Review

There was nothing normal about the year 2020. For just the third time in history, an American president was impeached, world icons John Lewis and Kobe Bryant passed away, the country of Australia was devastated by brushfires that burned some forty-six million acres of land, and The United States faced a racial reckoning the likes of which had been unseen since the Civil Rights era. All of this took place on the heels of a global pandemic that has killed more than 4.3 million people to date and has infected 10% of the global population. These events of the year …

Who Gets The Drought: The Standard Of Causation Necessary In Cases Of Equitable Apportionment, E. Tate Crymes

Mercer Law Review

More than just an amenity, “[a river] is a treasure” noted Justice Holmes in a dispute over the waters of the Delaware River. Water is a unique resource in that it is fluid and can move between borders of sovereign states. When water flows across state boundaries, there are often conflicts between the rights of the powerful upstream state and the vulnerable downstream state. Although water rights laws vary across the United States, most eastern states adopt the principle that the right to water is equal for both states. ...

In the Court’s most recent equitable apportionment decision, Florida II, …

Labor And Employment Law, W. Jonathan Martin Ii, Alyssa K. Peters, Patricia-Anne Brownback, Aaron Chang, Amanda Morejon

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys revisions to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.) and decisions interpreting Georgia law from June 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021, that affect labor and employment relations for Georgia employers

Environmental Law, Travis M. Trimble

Mercer Law Review

In 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a provision of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) that tolled statutes of limitation in state law claims did not apply to a claim brought under the Price-Anderson Act (PAA), providing an exclusive federal cause of action for harm resulting from exposure to radioactive materials, even though the PAA “borrows” all substantive law governing liability, including a relevant statute of limitation, from the law of the state where the harm occurred. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia found …

Bankruptcy, John T. Laney Iii, Victoria Barbarino Grantham

Mercer Law Review

This year’s Bankruptcy Law Article surveys include both notable cases and legislation that will have an impact on the practice of bankruptcy law in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. It will address one Supreme Court of the United States case argued in October 2020, which was decided early in 2021, and three Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals cases decided in 2020. This Article will also include a follow up on the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 and a glimpse into the CARES Act, the most groundbreaking legislation of its kind, and its provisions that …

Admiralty, John P. Kavanagh Jr.

Mercer Law Review

The cases discussed herein represent decisions from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, as well as district courts within the Circuit, issued in 2020. While not an all-inclusive list of maritime decisions during that timeframe, the Author identified and provided summaries of key rulings of interest to the maritime practitioner.

Class Actions, Thomas M. Byrne, Stacy Mcgavin Mohr

Mercer Law Review

A major decision outlawing “incentive” or “service” awards to named class representatives in settlements highlighted the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit’s class-action work during 2020. The court became the first court to prohibit such awards, disrupting settlement negotiations across the circuit—if not elsewhere—while challenging courts and litigants to identify the precise scope of the new doctrine. In other cases this year, the court tackled issues related to class settlements, standing, and exceptions to Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) jurisdiction, and decided what looks to be the beginning of the end of the Florida tobacco-litigation appeals that …

Commercial Transportation, Madeline E. Mcneeley, Sarah L. Adle, Joshua H. Dorminy, Elizabeth M. Brooks, Stephen G. Lowry

Mercer Law Review

Commercial transportation involves all the significant forms of passenger and freight transportation across the United States. This Article surveys significant judicial, regulatory, and legislative developments in commercial-transportation law affecting the federal judicial circuit including Georgia, Alabama, and Florida during the period from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020. The first three areas discussed here are subject to heavy federal regulation due to their far-reaching effects on interstate commerce: trucking and other commercial motor vehicles, aviation, and railroads. The other two areas discussed in this Article—autonomous-vehicle technology and shareable electric bicycles and scooters—are regulated primarily at the state and local …

Criminal Law, Thomas D. Church

Mercer Law Review

This Article provides a comprehensive review of the Eleventh Circuit’s most noteworthy criminal law opinions from 2020, with a focus on the key holdings from each decision. Section II of this Article addresses substantive criminal offenses, such as economic crimes, drug offenses, and firearm offenses, while Section III covers criminal procedure, the rules of evidence, and constitutional issues arising in criminal prosecutions. Section IV deals with the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and other sentencing issues, and Section V provides a limited review of the Eleventh Circuit’s decisions in post-conviction proceedings.

Evidence, W. Randall Bassett, Val Leppert, Lauren Newman

Mercer Law Review

In its 2020 term, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued several important and precedential opinions on a number of evidentiary topics. For example, in four published opinions, the court considered whether certain evidence was “testimonial” to determine whether its admission would implicate the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause. The court also addressed whether a defendant on federal supervised release faces a “classic penalty situation,” thereby deeming any confession compelled in violation of the Fifth Amendment, when a probation officer asks him to answer questions that would reveal he had committed new crimes.

The Eleventh Circuit additionally …

Federal Income Taxation, Nikolai Karetnyi, Ruoxi Zhang

Mercer Law Review

In the year 2020, the federal courts within the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit handed down several notable opinions on federal tax issues.1 This Article surveys two of those opinions involving the taxation of conservation easements and the receipt of settlement payments.