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Taking Charge: Revisiting The Enforcement Of Inter-Creditor Agreements In Ibc-Driven Liquidations, Priyanshu Shrivastava, Hemang Mankar

National Law School Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Trial Practice And Procedure, Joseph M. Colwell, Christopher B. Mcdaniel, John D. Flowers, Madi Mcmichael Moseley

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.

An Exception To Prove The Rule: Rebutting The Presumption Of A Consistent And Definitive Construction, Miles C. Skedsvold

Mercer Law Review

Because the State of Georgia has had ten constitutions since declaring independence from Great Britain, the history of those prior constitutions has a lot to do with understanding the Constitution in force today. In particular, when a provision is carried forward from one constitution to the next without material change, the Supreme Court of Georgia’s decisions interpreting that provision under an earlier constitution can be a key piece of evidence for understanding its meaning in the later one.

The Supreme Court of Georgia calls this piece of the historical inquiry the presumption of a consistent and definitive construction: the provision …

Construction Law, Peter Crofton, David Cook, Derek Andre

Mercer Law Review

Over the past year, the state and federal courts in Georgia issued orders and opinions on a variety of topics affecting the construction industry. This Article discusses some of the most important of these cases.

Georgia's Best Friend, Harold D. Melton

Mercer Law Review

“Chief Justice Michael Boggs is one of my very best friends in life,” say people all over the great State of Georgia, including me. Rare is the man who has such a clear sense of purpose and who derives so much joy in being a true friend to the people around him. And by that, I refer to his tight-knit inner circle and the broader community at large: his wife, his immediate family, his extended family, his local community, his legal community, and also the people who make Georgia their home.

The Right To Keep And Bear Arms In Georgia, John R. Monroe

Mercer Law Review

This Article provides a survey of the right to keep and bear arms in Georgia as it has developed from colonial times to the present. While this Article is not about the Second Amendment, references to that amendment cannot be avoided because the two are intertwined.

The Article follows Georgia’s right to keep and bear arms in roughly chronological order, where discreet periods in history can be seen to have heavy influence on laws impacting the right to keep and bear arms. These periods include Colonial, Antebellum, Civil War years, Reconstruction and late nineteenth century, early twentieth century, and finally …

Business Associations, Scott Lowry

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys a selection of noteworthy cases involving business associations that Georgia courts decided between June 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025.

Torts, Kelly Cahill Timmons

Mercer Law Review

2024–2025 was a big year for tort law in Georgia, particularly on the legislative side. Governor Brian Kemp achieved his primary goal for the 2025 legislative session, working with the Georgia General Assembly to enact significant tort reform measures. These measures change Georgia law on the collateral source rule, the relevance of seatbelt evidence, and—most notably—in the area of negligent security. All of these changes benefit tort defendants. The Supreme Court of Georgia also made its mark on tort law during the Survey period, deciding several cases involving the liability of professionals and adopting rules that— more often than not—benefited …

Labor And Employment Law, W. Jonathan Martin Ii

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys recent developments in the state statutory and common law that affect labor and employment relations of Georgia employers. Accordingly, it surveys published decisions from the Supreme Court of Georgia and the Court of Appeals of Georgia from June 1, 2024 to May 31, 2025. This Article also includes highlights of certain revisions to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (“O.C.G.A.”).

State And Local Taxation, David Greenberg, Alexus Holton

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys the most critical and comprehensive changes in Georgia law occurring between June 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025. Most notably, this Article discusses changes to tax credits impacting Georgia’s film industry, further clarifications to Georgia’s taxicab tax regulations, important changes to property taxes on conservation properties, and other important state and local taxation topics.

Between Relevance And Remedy: Trial Court Discretion In Georgia Evidence Law, John E. Hall Jr., W. Scott Henwood, Rebekah Mabe

Mercer Law Review

The admissibility of evidence in Georgia civil litigation continues to rest on a foundational principle: deference to the trial court’s discretion. Georgia appellate courts have consistently reaffirmed that evidentiary rulings—particularly those involving complex or fact-sensitive considerations—will not be disturbed absent a clear abuse of discretion. This standard reflects the institutional competence of trial courts, which are uniquely positioned to evaluate the credibility of parties, assess the probative value of evidence, and manage the presentation of issues throughout the course of litigation. While portions of Georgia’s Evidence Code closely mirror the Federal Rules of Evidence—permitting persuasive use of federal case law …

Insurance, Jessica M. Phillips, Rebecca E. Strickland, Kori E. Wagner

Mercer Law Review

During this Survey period, the courts in Georgia issued several meaningful decisions in the area of insurance. In the first party context, the court reinforced its disfavor for litigants taking inconsistent legal positions to their benefit by reinforcing the robust application of the doctrine of judicial estoppel. In addition, Georgia courts revisited the propriety of the manner in which an insurance carrier evaluates actual cash value for the purposes of determining recovery for diminution in value in property claims involving damage to automobiles. Finally, courts expanded the ability of plaintiffs to recover damages for claims other than breach of contract …

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

This Survey covers the period from June 1, 2024–May 31, 2025. The Article discusses developments with respect to lawyer discipline, bar admission and reinstatement, malpractice, ineffective assistance of counsel, disqualification of counsel, judicial misconduct and recusal, attorney’s fees and liens, contempt and other sanctions, unauthorized practice of law, attorney-client privilege, prosecutorial misconduct, amendments to the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, advisory opinions, one miscellaneous matter, and potential reforms to the delivery of legal services.

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

Mercer Law Review

This Survey period saw notable decisions from Georgia’s appellate courts addressing issues including a potential limiting effect on employees’ misrepresentations in the hiring process, the refusal of suitable light duty work, and application of the exclusive remedy provision to civil suits. There was no notable legislation, as the legislature was instead occupied with the “tort reform” bill, Senate Bill 68, which includes virtually no reference to workers’ compensation.

A Return To Roots: Guy V. Housing Authority Of Augusta And The Revival Of Common Law Sovereign Immunity, Macyn L. Nasser

Mercer Law Review

In late 2021, a shooting at a housing complex reignited a centuries-old question: when may a municipality claim the sovereign’s shield? In Guy v. Housing Authority of the City of Augusta (“Guy II”), the Supreme Court of Georgia vacated a court of appeals decision that had analogized a housing authority to a state agency and thus found it immune from suit. In its decision, the supreme court explained that such questions must be resolved by examining whether the entity would have been immune under English common law as it existed in 1776. The case was remanded for the lower court …

Brief Of Lindsay And Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic As Amicus Curiae In Support Of Appellants, John A. Meiser, Meredith Holland Kessler

Court Briefs

Nos. 25-2575, 25-2662
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. President United States of America

On Appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
No. 2:17-cv-04540-WB (Hon. Wendy Bettlestone)

From the Summary of the Argument

The agencies’ promulgation of the Religious and Moral Rules challenged in this case was neither arbitrary nor capricious. Widespread litigation against the agencies’ contraceptive mandate under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act— and multiple trips to the Supreme Court—made clear that the mandate violates the federally protected rights of organizations like the Little Sisters of the Poor. After years of failed efforts to alleviate that …

3l Jayden Boudreau Earns Prestigious Skadden Fellowship, Maurer School Of Law - Indiana University

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

The Skadden Fellowship Foundation announced this week that 3L Jayden Boudreau is one of only 34 law students from across the country—and the only one from an Indiana law school— that has been selected as a 2026 Skadden Fellow, one of the most prestigious honors in public interest law.

The award will support Boudreau’s innovative ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project, focused on protecting the rights of queer and transgender youth in school settings through legal advocacy and systemic policy engagement. He will spend two years in New York City, working at the national headquarters of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Rules Of Decision, Judicial Power, And The Valid Rule Requirement, John Harrison

Catholic University Law Review

Some current Supreme Court debates that concern seemingly specialized issues raise fundamental questions about the role of the Constitution in the legal system and the role of the courts when they decide constitutional issues. In recent years, Justice Thomas has suggested that the doctrines of First Amendment overbreadth, so-called third-party standing in cases involving constitutional liberty, and statutory inseverability call on federal courts to exceed their role under Article III. Justice Thomas maintains that when courts apply those doctrines, the courts decide cases not before them. Building on the work of Professor Henry Monaghan, this article argues that those concerns …

Splitting The Statute: Severability As A Canon Of Construction Or Constitutional Concern?, Amy L. Moore

Catholic University Law Review

Severability doctrine stands at the crossroads of statutory interpretation and constitutional structure. This Article traces how the Supreme Court has struggled to define whether severability is merely an interpretive presumption designed to preserve as much of Congress’ work as possible, or a constitutional limit on judicial power that forbids courts from reconstructing statutes Congress never enacted. Beginning with Marbury v. Madison and running through cases like Alaska Airlines, Booker, Ayotte, Seila Law, and Loper Bright, this Article charts the Court’s shifting rationales from legislative intent and functional operability to structural separation-of-powers concerns. It distinguishes between …

Facial Challenges, Remedies, And The Judicial Power, Natalie R. Schmidt

Catholic University Law Review

The Supreme Court has long maligned facial, as opposed to as-applied, challenges to the constitutionality of statutes, warning that they are disfavored and difficult to win. But recently, in his separate opinion in Moody v. NetChoice, LLC, Justice Thomas has launched a stronger attack: facial challenges are improper exercises of the judicial power. Facial challenges, he asserted, require courts to go beyond the case or controversy before them, improperly distort standing doctrine, and thus violate Article III of the U.S. Constitution.

This Symposium Piece addresses Justice Thomas’s charge head on, arguing that facial challenges do not implicate the judicial …

Rethinking Judicial Power & Remedial Restraint, Caprice L. Roberts

Catholic University Law Review

This Article maintains that groundbreaking Supreme Court cases reshaping judicial power and restraint are frequently remedies centric. The much- anticipated ruling in Trump v. CASA illustrates this correlation. Interpreting traditional equity, the Supreme Court circumscribed federal judicial power to issue universal relief. The Court relied on Marbury v. Madison to bolster its reasoning on the limits of judicial power. Ironically, both cases denied any remedy while enhancing the potential for future judicial power. Whether via judicial review and supremacy power or the Court’s future ability to now be the only federal court able to issue universal remedies—the Court’s role in …

Disregarding Severability, Kevin C. Walsh

Catholic University Law Review

The infirmities of severability doctrine have elicited increased attention at the Supreme Court. In his application of severability doctrine for a five-Justice majority in United States v. Arthrex, Inc., Chief Justice Roberts began to reformulate the doctrine in a way that can free the Court from the misleading mental imagery conjured by the conception of courts as “severing” provisions from a statute. Roberts's reformulation more properly depicts the relevant judicial activity to be judicial disregard of statutory rules to avoid unconstitutional applications of law rather than judicial severance of textual provisions to fix a problem that inheres in the …

State Constitutional Law: Developments In Georgia Election Law, Bryan P. Tyson, Bryan F. Jacoutot, Diane F. Laross

Mercer Law Review

Since the 2018 election, the election process in Georgia has been subjected to intense scrutiny both on the campaign trail and in the courtroom through a variety of lawsuits. Cases in superior courts and the Supreme Court of Georgia have challenged everything from candidate eligibility to election outcomes to the voting machines used in elections. While much of the highest-profile litigation has been in federal court, state law regarding election administration and post-election contests has developed in significant ways during that time period. This Article reviews some of the most significant cases involving Georgia election law that have made their …

Does Georgia’S Code Have The Force Of Law? Early Codification Practices And Constitutional Questions, Jake Shatzer

Mercer Law Review

In 1858, Georgia’s General Assembly commissioned the state’s first official code. The legislature appointed three men to assemble a lengthy volume that included all the legislative acts that were in force at the time. Besides statutes, the General Assembly also tasked the codifiers with codifying legal principles of the English common law, Georgia Supreme Court decisions, and English statutes that were still in force. As a result, the codifiers inserted hundreds of provisions into the code that they wrote in an attempt to distill these legal principles into statutory form. When the codifiers’ work was done, the General Assembly adopted …

Local Government, Jacob Stalvey O’Neal, Russell A. Britt, Dana A. King, Jennifer Dorminey Herzog, Nicholas A. Kinsley, M. Blake Walker

Mercer Law Review

Last year’s survey showed that the appellate courts in Georgia were reluctant to rule that a public official had violated a ministerial duty and thus were willing to hold that public officials were entitled to official immunity. This year, however, at least one case showed a swing in the other direction, with the Court of Appeals of Georgia holding that official immunity can be overcome, despite the existence of some discretionary language in a policy.

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

Mercer Law Review

This year’s Georgia Survey on zoning law analyzes new developments in case law and legislation over the Survey period. It analyzes the impact and aftermath of the Supreme Court of Georgia’s opinion in State v. SASS Group, LLC. SASS Group was the first case arising under the 2020 amendment to the Georgia Constitution of 1983, which permitted a limited waiver of the state’s sovereign immunity for declaratory judgment claims alleging that an action of a government official was unconstitutional. Though SASS Group did not factually involve a zoning decision, its holding impacted how and against whom an appeal of a …

Beyond Gary V. State: Paragraph Xiii And The Future Of Georgia’S Exclusionary Rule, Joshua R. Wright

Mercer Law Review

While lawyers across Georgia routinely file motions to suppress evidence in the state’s superior courts, many may never stop to consider what actually affords their clients that right. Practitioners preparing these motions quickly discover one of the most significant recent developments in modern Georgia criminal law: the debate over the scope of a criminal defendant’s constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures and, more importantly, when courts must suppress evidence obtained in violation of those rights. Will the Georgia Supreme Court overturn Gary v. State in full and adopt a good-faith exception? If so, can criminal defense attorneys look to …

Still A Deal With The Devil? Mary Carter Agreements And The Integrity Of Civil Jury Trials, Lane Hammond

Mercer Law Review

This Comment examines how jurisdictions treat Mary Carter agreements today and why Georgia should prohibit them entirely. It explores a case currently on appeal before the Court of Appeals of Georgia that raises the issue, draws parallels to prohibited trial tactics under the Bruton Doctrine, and explains why limiting instructions fail to cure the prejudice these agreements create. It raises questions about whether Mary Carter agreements even present a justiciable controversy. It also considers the tension between the competing values at stake: promoting settlements and judicial efficiency on one side, versus safeguarding fairness and the integrity of litigation on the …

Saints, Sinners, And Standard Agreements: Rethinking Morality Clauses In Georgia, Margaret Shehane

Mercer Law Review

This Comment situates morality clauses within Georgia’s broader contract and employment law framework, while also drawing lessons from New York and California. Part I traces the history and function of morality clauses, distinguishing between express and implied provisions, as well as reputational and conduct-based triggers. Part II examines how New York and California have approached morality clauses, emphasizing their reliance on public policy to limit enforceability. Part III turns to Georgia, analyzing how morality provisions are interpreted in light of at-will employment, identifying common drafting pitfalls, and offering practical guidance for attorneys. Part IV looks ahead, considering how Georgia law …

From Classroom To Courtroom: Vicarious Liability In Clinical Education, Grace M. Owens

Mercer Law Review

Vicarious liability has progressively extended its reach into the healthcare field. The advancement of clinical education and increased presence of medical students in the healthcare setting raises the question of who bears the legal responsibility for a student’s wrongful acts or omissions during the provision of medical care. In an attempt to conform to traditional tort ideals, should a medical student be solely responsible for their own actions? Conversely, should the medical institution or supervising physician pay the price of a student’s mistakes? Statham v. Quang demonstrates this tension and represents the Supreme Court of Georgia’s attempt to strike a …