Law Commons^™

From Transient To Tenant Overnite: The Georgia Court Of Appeals Leaves Room For Improvement In The Rights Of Extended-Stay Motel Residents, Kayla Pfeifer

Mercer Law Review

On September 25, 2020, extended-stay motel residents Armetrius Neason, Lynetrice Preston, and Altonese Weaver filed suit against the Efficiency Lodge branch they once considered home. Efficiency Lodge Inc. is a hotel chain that operates under an extended-stay model and primarily caters to low-income residents. Before litigation arose, Efficiency Lodge’s website displayed the slogan, “Stay a Nite or Stay Forever.” Each plaintiff continuously resided at the extended-stay motel for periods ranging anywhere from almost one to five years. They each signed uniform rental agreements, paid weekly rent, and housed their personal belongings in their rooms. Toward the end of their respective …

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

Mercer Law Review

Since 2017, this Georgia Survey of zoning law has annually chronicled judicial decisions transforming legislative zoning decisions into quasi-judicial actions, starting with City of Cumming v. Flowers, which held that a local government decision on a variance is quasi-judicial and may only be appealed by writ of certiorari. Subsequently, the Georgia Court of Appeals in York v. Athens College of Ministry held that consideration of a special/conditional use permit is also a quasi-judicial decision, thus extending the holding of City of Cumming. Though the appeal of a zoning decision has traditionally been de novo, York prohibited parties from …

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 …

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, …

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.

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

Mercer Law Review

With the close of the survey period for the seventy-first (71st) volume of the Mercer Law Review, development throughout the State of Georgia continued to thrive. While traditional brick-and-mortar commercial development is evolving, residential and industrial development remains steady. As a result, zoning challenges continued to present issues for resolution by Georgia’s appellate courts. This Article identifies important zoning and land use decisions of the Georgia Supreme Court (supreme court) and Georgia Court of Appeals (court of appeals) issued between June 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019.

Generally, the decisions by Georgia’s appellate courts in zoning related cases continued the …

Remarks And Recreation: Recent Changes In The Recreational Property Act And The State Of The Law Going Forward, M. Blake Walker

Mercer Law Review

In 1965, the Georgia General Assembly passed the Recreational Property Act (RPA or the Act), which generally grants landowners protection from liability when they open up their property for recreational purposes. Almost all states have enacted recreational use statutes, and it has been said that these statutes “codify tort principles that are universally recognized in common-law jurisdictions with regard to duties owed by owners and occupiers of property to those who come upon such property merely as licensees to use it for outdoor recreational purposes.” The Georgia version declares, “The purpose of this [law] is to encourage owners of land …

The Right To Rainwater: An Unlikely Fairy Tale, Autumn R. Triplett

Mercer Law Review

Everyone loves a good story, but what makes a story good?

First, a good story has a hero. Cinderella's fairy godmother helped her to realize her potential, Harry Potter saves the wizarding world once again, and rainwater changed our world. Of course this contention sounds strange, but if presented with the question of which natural resource is most vital to sustaining life on earth, most people would give the same answer: water. This is a statement that would likely be met with little resistance. That is because from a very early age, just like we are taught the importance of …

Zoning And Land Use Law, Dennis J. Webb Jr., Marcia Mccrory Ernst, Joseph L. Cooley, John Chadwick Torri, Victor A. Ellis

Mercer Law Review

This Article provides a succinct and practical analysis of the significant judicial decisions in the area of zoning and land use law that were handed down by Georgia appellate courts between June 1, 2006 and May 31, 2007. The cases surveyed fall primarily within five categories: (1) condemnation, (2) nuisance and trespass, (3) easements and restrictive covenants, (4) zoning, and (5) miscellaneous.

Zoning And Land Use Law, Dennis J. Webb Jr., Marcia Mccrory Ernst, Victor A. Ellis

Mercer Law Review

This Article provides a succinct and practical analysis of the significant judicial decisions in the area of zoning and land use law pronounced by the United States Supreme Court and Georgia appellate courts between June 1, 2004 and May 31, 2005. The cases surveyed fall primarily within six categories: (1) condemnation; (2) nuisance and environmental; (3) zoning and related ordinances; (4) easements; (5) annexation; and (6) restrictive covenants.

Tree Preservation Ordinances: Sacrificing Private Timber Rights On The Diminutive Altar Of Public Benefits, Brian E. Daughdrill, Kathryn M. Zickert

Mercer Law Review

Georgia is a state dominated by its forests and forest industries. Forests have defined the state since it was settled in the 1730s. Early settlers of the state enjoyed both the bounty provided by Georgia's forests and the use of those forests as they cleared land and built homes. Early forest products, in addition to lumber, included naval stores, "a tar-like substance which was used to caulk the seams of wood ships;" and live oak "knees," curved portions of the tree used as deck supports in wooden ship building. Indeed, Revolutionary War hero Nathaniel Greene, who had vast holdings on …

A Critical Review Of The Law Of Business Loss Claims In Georgia Eminent Domain Jurisprudence, Charles M. Cork Iii

Mercer Law Review

The Georgia Constitution provides that "private property shall not be taken or damaged for public purposes without just and adequate compensation being first paid." While the courts have recognized that a business is property within the meaning of the constitution, case law would rewrite this provision more or less as follows:

Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public purposes without just and adequate compensation being first paid, except that the business of a property owner may be partially taken or damaged without compensation, and except that the business of a property owner or tenant may be temporarily …

Lucas V. South Carolina Coastal Council: Low Tide For The Takings Clause, Marshall Currey Cook

Mercer Law Review

In Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, the United States Supreme Court held that when a state government regulation rendered a landowner's property totally valueless, the landowner must be compensated unless common law nuisance doctrine at the time of the taking prohibited the use forbidden by the regulation. The Supreme Court reversed the South Carolina Supreme Court and remanded the case to determine whether any principles of nuisance and property law existed that prohibited the forbidden use under the statute-the building of an occupiable improvement. This Casenote will only address the court's analysis of the Takings Clause part of …

Requiring Preservation And Maintenance Of Historical District Is Within Zoning Power, Stephen Roger Kane

Mercer Law Review

In Maher v. New Orleans, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit considered the constitutionality of a municipal zoning ordinance regulating the preservation and maintenance of a historical district. A three-judge panel held that the New Orleans City Council's Vieux Carre Ordinance was constitutional, since it provided enough objective criteria to determine which buildings in the Vieux Carre had historical and architectural value, and that the ordinance did not unconstitutionally take property, either on its face or as applied to Maher.

Regulating Location Of 'Adult Theaters' On Basis Of Film Content Is Constitutional, Alan Parker Layne

Mercer Law Review

In Young v. American Mini Theaters, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5- 4 decision, upheld a Detroit zoning ordinance that regulated the location of theaters exhibiting adult films. The Court rejected due-process and equal-protection arguments and concluded that First-Amendment principles were not offended even though the classification was based upon the content of the films.

On November 2, 1972, Detroit amended an "Anti Skid Row" ordinance enacted approximately ten years earlier.2 The 1972 amendment prohibited the location of "adult theaters" within 1,000 feet of any two other regulated uses.' Theaters exhibiting material that was "distinguished or characterized by …

Environment, Natural Resources And Land Use, J. William Futrell

Mercer Law Review

During the survey period, both the courts and the legislature moved to resolve basic uncertainties as to the validity of land use, natural resource, and environmental protection laws and regulations. In Barrett v. Hamby, the court clarified the relationship between the taking clause and police power regulation and moved to a position closer to the mainstream of American law. The General Assembly sought to resolve any doubts as to the State's ability to legislate in the land use and natural resource protection field by adding language to the proposed editorial revision of the state constitution which specifically bases future …