Law Commons^™

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

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys cases from the Georgia Supreme Court and the Georgia Court of Appeals from June 1, 2019, through May 31, 2020, in which principles of administrative law were a central focus of the case. Exhaustion of remedies will be the first topic discussed, followed by a review of decisions by administrative agencies, followed by cases discusses administrative scope of authority, with statutory construction to follow. The Article will conclude with cases discussing the standard of review of decisions by administrative agencies.

Business Associations, Stuart E. Walker

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys noteworthy decisions involving corporations and limited liability companies issued by the Georgia Court of Appeals between June 1, 2019, and May 31, 2020, summarizes an amendment to the Georgia Business Corporation Code and an amendment to the Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code passed during the 2020 session of the General Assembly, and says a brief word about the status of the new State-wide Business Court.

As far as appellate decisions are concerned, this was a somewhat thin survey period in the area of business associations. But the handful of cases treated here have some lessons to teach the …

Commercial Transportation, Madeline E. Mcneeley, Yvonne S. Godfrey, Elizabeth M. Brooks, Joshua H. Dorminy, Stephen G. Lowry

Mercer Law Review

Commercial transportation involves all of 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 during the period from June 1, 2019, through May 31, 2020.

Construction Law, Ward Stone Jr.

Mercer Law Review

During the Survey Period, the Georgia appellate courts handed down a number of decisions underscoring the requirement that contractors hold valid and current contractor’s licenses issued by the Secretary of State’s office in order to be able to enforce construction contracts.Several attempts to side‑step the statute,carve out exceptions, or avoid the harsh consequences of violating the statute were rejected in favor of strict interpretation. As several courts noted concerning the licensing statutes:

[I]n construing any statutory text, we must presume that the General Assembly meant what it said and said what it meant. To that end, we must afford the …

Criminal Law, John A. Regan

Mercer Law Review

This Article reviews opinions impacting the practice of criminal law delivered by the Supreme Court of the United States and the Georgia Supreme Court covering the period of June 1, 2019, up until May 21, 2020.This Article is designed to be a mere overview to both prosecutors and defense attorneys of decisions and new statutes, and it serves as a broad guideline to how these decisions will affect their practices.

Domestic Relations, Andrew B. Mcclintock, Allison C. Kessler, Barry B. Mcgough, Elinor H. Hitt

Mercer Law Review

This Article reviews opinions impacting the practice of criminal law delivered by the Supreme Court of the United States and the Georgia Supreme Court covering the period of June 1, 2019, up until May 21, 2020. This Article is designed to be a mere overview to both prosecutors and defense attorneys of decisions and new statutes, and it serves as a broad guideline to how these decisions will affect their practices.in the State of Georgia in the first quarter of 2020 and continuing through the end of the survey period.

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

Mercer Law Review

Even after the seventh year since the implementation of Georgia’s new Evidence Code, Georgia’s evidence rules continue to evolve as appellate courts face new issues and delve into more nuanced areas of the rules. This Article details some of this 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, 2019, through May 31, 2020. Specifically, this Article addresses (1) limitations on the attorney‑client privilege; (2) admissibility of witness testimony as it relates to late‑identified witnesses, witness competency, and co‑conspirator statements; (3) …

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

Mercer Law Review

During this Survey period, the courts in Georgia returned to the usual abundance of automobile and uninsured motorist (UM) cases, the summaries of which make up most of this annual update. The courts decided three cases involving UM coverage limits that were less than the policies’ liability limits and the claims of insureds that the carriers owed coverage equal to the liability limits. The insurers prevailed in all three cases. In a fourth case, the Georgia Court of Appeals determined that an insured could not sue a tortfeasor in the name of “John Doe,” where the person’s name was known …

Labor & Employment Law, W. Jonathan Martin Iii, Alyssa K. Peters, Patricia-Anne Brownback, Graham Newsome, Aaron Chang

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, 2019 to May 31, 2020, that affect labor and employment relations for Georgia employers.

Legal Ethics, Patrick Longan

Mercer Law Review

This Survey covers the period from June 1, 2019, to May 31, 2020. The Article discusses developments with respect to attorney discipline, ineffective assistance of counsel, bar admission, disqualification of counsel, judicial conduct, malpractice and other civil claims, contempt, several miscellaneous cases, formal advisory opinions (State Bar of Georgia and the American Bar Association), and amendments to the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct.

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

Mercer Law Review

Interesting developments on the application of sovereign immunity continued during this survey period. In City of College Park v. Clayton County, the Georgia Supreme Court addressed whether sovereign immunity bars suits between political subdivisions of the state, such as counties and cities, and concluded that it does not. The case involved taxation of alcoholic beverages at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The airport is located primarily within Clayton County, while some of the businesses located within the airport are located in unincorporated sections of the county and other businesses are located within the incorporated limits of the City of College …

Real Property, Linda S. Finley

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys developments in Georgia real property law between June 1, 2019, and May 31, 2020. Of course, the Survey became significantly different from previous years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Supreme Court of Georgia issued emergency rules and procedures resulting in the shutdown of many courts and most assuredly the slowdown of every court. Nevertheless, the Survey is the result of a review of appellate court decisions rendered during the survey period as well as legislation and other mandates promulgated during the period which affects real property law and practice.

State And Local Taxation, Brian Sengson, Diandria Green, Blake Joiner, David Greenberg

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys the most critical and comprehensive changes in Georgia law occurring between June 1, 2019, and May 31, 2020. Most notably, the article discusses Georgia’s tax response to COVID-19, Georgia’s new marketplace facilitator statute, the jurisdictional limits of the Georgia Tax tribunal, and other important topics.

Torts, Jarome E. Gautreaux

Mercer Law Review

This Article addresses recent cases decided during the survey period in the area of torts. This survey period is especially remarkable for a couple of cases decided by the Georgia Supreme Court that overruled prior precedents.

Trial Practice And Procedure, Brandon L. Peak, Ramsey B. Prather, Joseph M. Colwell, Christopher B. Mcdaniel, Rory A. Weeks, Michael F. Williford

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.

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

Mercer Law Review

The 2019–2020 survey period again featured decisions from the Georgia Court of Appeals over an interesting array of workers’ compensation topics including: robberies, misrepresentations, calculation disputes, and various potential employment situations. There was no legislation of significance during the period.

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

Mercer Law Review

During the Survey period, the Supreme Court of the United States in Knick v. Township of Scott gave aggrieved property owners in Georgia a federal taking claim for inverse condemnation resulting from a zoning regulation that the Georgia Supreme Court had previously denied them under state law in Diversified Holdings, LLP v. City of Suwanee. The Georgia Court of Appeals further refined York v. Athens College of Ministry. Finally (on a note inseparable with zoning), the Georgia Supreme Court encountered a case defining the parameters of the Georgia Open Meetings Act.

A Bleak House: The Story Behind The Oldest Legal Controversy In The State Of Georgia, Clayton T. Kendrick

Mercer Law Review

Bleak Houseis a novel written by Charles Dickens, which centers around the fictional English Court of Chancery case Jarndyce and Jarndyce.The fictional case concerns a dispute surrounding a large inheritance that drags on for several generations.As Dickens put it,

Jarndyce and Jarndyce drones on . . . . Innumerable children have been born into the cause; innumerable young people have married into it; innumerable old people have died out of it . . . . The little plaintiff or defendant, who was promised a new rocking-horse when Jarndyce and Jarndyce should be settled, has grown up, possessed himself …

Irreparably Corrupt And Permanently Incorrigible: Georgia’S Procedures For Sentencing Children To Die In Prison, Rachel Ness-Maddox

Mercer Law Review

Right now, two teenagers live in Georgia prisons, knowing they will be incarcerated for the rest of their lives.Countless adults are serving sentences of life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) for crimes they, too, committed when they were teenagers. It is difficult to find in officially‑reported data adults serving sentences they received for crimes they committed while children. This is because, once the two teenagers specifically noted in the Georgia Department of Corrections’ Inmate Statistical Profileturn twenty, they will move to the next data bracket for imprisoned people between the ages of twenty and twenty‑nine, just as all the …

History Uprooted: Georgia Applies Apportionment To Strict Liability Claims, Carey Sartain

Mercer Law Review

Adrienne Johns had experience riding motorcycles for over 20 years when in 2013, total failure of the front brake on his 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000 caused him to hit a curb, throwing him from his bike and knocking him unconscious. The accident resulted in Johns being hospitalized for over two months following spinal fusion surgery and surgery to repair his hand. Subsequent to the accident, he discovered that there had been a recall notice from Suzuki related to his bike model’s front brake. At trial, Johns proved that a design defect in the front brake had ultimately caused the brake to …

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

Mercer Law Review

This Article describes significant cases decided by the Georgia Court of Appeals during the period of June 1, 2020, through May 31, 2019, that pertain to Georgia fiduciary law and estate planning. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Georgia General Assembly suspended its 2020 session and thus no significant legislation was enacted during the reporting period. This report does however discuss relevant legislation that was pending during the reporting period and describes the Governor’s Order issued in April 2020 that permitted remote notarization and witnessing of estate planning documents during the pandemic.

Admiralty, John P. Kavanagh Jr.

Mercer Law Review

The cases discussed herein represent decisions the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued in 2018 and 2019. While not an all-inclusive list of maritime decisions from the court during that timeframe, the Author identified and provided summaries of key cases which should be of interest to the maritime practitioner.

The Reasonableness And Unreasonableness Of Delays In Obtaining Search Warrants, Brianna N. Stanley

Mercer Law Review

Imagine a couple driving down the road and lawfully being stopped by police. Next, envision that traffic stop turning into an arrest and the couple's phones being seized, their vehicle being impounded, and their computer and tablet within the vehicle taken to the inventory room at the police department. If you are thinking this does not sound like anything out of the ordinary, you would be correct. However, imagine their defense attorney constantly asking for the phone, tablet, and computer to be given back to the couple so that evidence on these devices could be examined for their criminal case. …

Bankruptcy, John T. Laney Iii, Nicholas Greer

Mercer Law Review

This year's Bankruptcy Law Article surveys both opinions and recent legislation that will have an impact on the practice of bankruptcy law in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The decisions in this article come from the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the United States District Courts located in the Eleventh Circuit, as well as the United States Bankruptcy Courts located in the Eleventh Circuit. Throughout the survey period, January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019, countless decisions related to bankruptcy law have been handed …

Commercial Transportation, Madeline E. Mcneeley, Yvonne S. Godfrey, T. Peyton Bell, Elizabeth M. Brooks, Stephen G. Lowry

Mercer Law Review

Commercial transportation involves all of 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 in the Eleventh Circuit during the period from January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019. 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. This Article also touches on two additional issues: passenger transportation for hire (i.e., livery and rideshare services) and the development of autonomous-vehicle technology. While these issues are …

Criminal Law, Thomas D. Church

Mercer Law Review

Last year was another busy year for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. While the court continued developing federal criminal law within the circuit, the court was also forced to adjust its own precedents in light of several landmark opinions by the Supreme Court of the United States.

In United States v. Davis, for example, the Supreme Court struck down the residual clause in 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), thus overruling the Eleventh Circuit's en banc decision in Ovalles v. United States. Another one of the Supreme Court's most noteworthy opinions came on appeal directly from …

Evidence, W. Randall Bassett, Val Leppert, Elijah T. Staggers

Mercer Law Review

In the 2019 term, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued several opinions deciding evidentiary issues. Those opinions span a broad range of topics including constitutional limitations on admissible evidence, expert testimony, the scope of certain hearsay exceptions, and various other evidentiary rules. This article looks back at the Eleventh Circuit's 2019 term to highlight and analyze keynote decisions on those issues.

Federal Income Taxation, Nikolai Karetnyi, Ruoxi Zhang

Mercer Law Review

In the year 2019, the federal courts within the Eleventh Circuit handed down several notable opinions on federal tax issues. This Article surveys two of those opinions involving the taxation of shareholder loans to S corporations and the application of gross valuation-misstatement penalty to partnerships.

Labor And Employment, W. Jonathan Martin Ii, Patricia-Anne Brownback

Mercer Law Review

This Article focuses on case law concerning federal laws pertaining to labor and employment. The following is a discussion of those opinions.

Trial Practice And Procedure, John O'Shea Sullivan, Michelle L. Mcclafferty, Tala Amirfazli, Adelyn B. Boleman

Mercer Law Review

The 2018 - 2019 survey period yielded noteworthy decisions relating to federal trial practice and procedure in the Eleventh Circuit, several of which involved issues of first impression. This article analyzes recent developments in the Eleventh Circuit, including significant rulings in the areas of civil procedure, statutory interpretation, class actions, arbitration and subject matter jurisdiction.