Law Commons^™

The Seat-Belt Defense In Georgia, Jacob E. Daly

Mercer Law Review

For a doctrine of common-law origin, the seat-belt defense is a relatively youthful fifty years old. Credit for the first use of this defense has been attributed to the defendant in Stockinger v. Dunisch, a 1964 case in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, in which the plaintiff's damages were reduced by 10% based on the jury's finding that she was negligent for failing to use a seat belt. Despite this initial success, most states have rejected the defense, some legislatively and others judicially, and therefore exclude evidence of a plaintiffs failure to use an available seat belt. The Georgia Court of …

Administrative Law, Martin M. Wilson, Jennifer A. Blackburn, Courtney E. Ferrell

Mercer Law Review

No abstract provided.

Business Associations, Crystal J. Clark

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys notable cases in the areas of corporate, limited liability company, partnership, agency, and joint venture law decided between June 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013, by the Georgia Supreme Court, the Georgia Court of Appeals, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the United States district courts located in Georgia.' This Article also discusses relevant legislation enacted during the survey period.

Construction Law, Frank O. Brown Jr.

Mercer Law Review

This Article focuses on noteworthy construction law opinions by Georgia appellate courts between June 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013, and one case, Estate of Pitts v. City of Atlanta, decided on remand in July 2013. The Article briefly discusses the Georgia False Claims Act,' which became effective July 1, 2012.

Criminal Law, Franklin J. Hogue

Mercer Law Review

This Article reviews the most important criminal cases during this reporting period-from June 1, 2012 through May 31, 2013-that will likely have an effect upon the way prosecutors and defense attorneys approach criminal cases in Georgia.

Death Penalty, Josh D. Moore

Mercer Law Review

The Georgia Supreme Court addressed numerous cases touching on the death penalty in our survey period, including the review of four death sentences on direct appeal in Ellington v. State, Rice v. State, Barrett v. State, and Brockman v. State. Three of the death sentences reviewed on direct appeal were affirmed and one was reversed. The court also reversed the decision of a habeas court to vacate a death sentence in Humphrey v. Riley. Several other cases involving the death penalty at various stages of trial were also decided and will be addressed further as …

Domestic Relations, Barry B. Mcgough, Elinor H. Hitt

Mercer Law Review

This Article addresses significant case law that arose during the survey period. There were no statutory changes specific to domestic relations during this period, though substantial changes were made to the evidence code.

Evidence, John E. Hall Jr., W. Scott Henwood, Alex Battey

Mercer Law Review

This year's Survey of evidence finds us in a unique position. The overhaul of the Georgia Evidence Code (Evidence Code) went into effect on January 1, 2013. Therefore, appellate cases continue to emerge that interpret and apply the former rules, providing insight and raising questions about how the new rules have changed the face of evidence in Georgia. This Survey highlights cases decided by the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Georgia Supreme Court between June 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013, that illustrate this tension between the old and new rules of evidence. These cases are presented alongside other …

Insurance, Dean A. Calloway

Mercer Law Review

This survey period, from June 1, 2012 through May 31, 2013, proved eventful. Over the past year, state and federal courts in Georgia had occasion to interpret key provisions of Georgia's Insurance Code, address novel issues of first impression, and resolve disputes with significant policy implications for Georgia's insurance industry.

The following are among the more notable developments: (1) the Georgia Supreme Court formally extended application of the rule in State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Mabry (the Mabry rule), which is the requirement that an insurer compensate an insured for his vehicle's diminished value resulting from an automobile …

Labor And Employment Law, W. Melvin Haas Iii, William M. Clifton Iii, W. Jonathan Martin Ii, Alyssa Peters

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys enacted and pending revisions to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.) and decisions interpreting Georgia law from June 1, 2012 through May 31, 2013.

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

This Article covers the period from June 1, 2012 through May 31, 2013. During this period, the Georgia Supreme Court decided a number of lawyer-discipline cases and other matters related to licensure. The supreme court and the Georgia Court of Appeals decided cases involving legal malpractice, ineffective assistance of counsel, judicial ethics, and several miscellaneous matters. The supreme court also approved one significant Formal Advisory Opinion and one set of changes to the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct.

Local Government Law, Kirk Fjelstul

Mercer Law Review

This Article reviews Georgia appellate decisions presenting new or instructive issues related to local government law during the survey period from June 1, 2012 to May 31, 2013.

Product Liability, Franklin P. Brannen Jr.

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys developments in Georgia product liability law between June 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013. The Article covers noteworthy cases decided during this period by the Georgia Court of Appeals, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the United States district courts located in Georgia.

Real Property, Linda S. Finley

Mercer Law Review

For the last several years, the Author has begun this Survey with a comment about the American economy and the increase in the number of foreclosures facing Georgia homeowners. Although the number of residential foreclosures appears to be decreasing, the plight of homeowners remains a critical issue. Rest assured, this Article does not limit itself to a review of consumer-related law. It also looks at broad topics pertaining to real property, because whether the topic is foreclosure, boundaries, condemnation, or title, ". . . it is just about the dirt."

Torts, Phillip Comer Griffeth, Cash V. Morris

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys recent developments in Georgia tort law between June 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013. Throughout this survey period, our appellate courts provided clear recitations of existing tort law, clarified the application and meaning of statutes and existing lines of cases, and recognized liability and defenses in cases of first impression.

Trial Practice And Procedure, Brandon L. Peak, John C. Morrison Iii, Tedra C. Hobson, Mary K. Weeks, Jeb Butler, Anna W. Howard, Morgan E. Duncan

Mercer Law Review

This Article addresses several significant cases and legislation of interest to the Georgia civil trial practitioner occurring during the survey period of this publication.

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

Mercer Law Review

This Article describes selected cases and significant legislation from June 1, 2012 through May 31, 2013 pertaining to Georgia fiduciary law and estate planning.

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

Mercer Law Review

The 2012-2013 survey period featured notable decisions of the appellate courts in a wide range of areas along with legislation impacting the Workers' Compensation Act' in several important areas, including a 400-week cap on medical benefits.

Bankruptcy, James D. Walker Jr., Amber Nickell, Tim Colletti

Mercer Law Review

This Article focuses on bankruptcy opinions issued in 2012 by the courts in the Eleventh Circuit. The topics are varied, ranging from the constitutionality of bankruptcy-specific exemption schemes enacted by the states to the ever-growing body of law arising from the means test.

Class Actions, Thomas M. Byrne, Stacey Mcgavin Mohr

Mercer Law Review

This year saw the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit set the ground rules for collateral attacks on class settlements and elaborate on the predominance requirements for class certification. The court also considered the enforceability of a, variety of arbitration provisions in light of the United States Supreme Court's decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion and examined standing issues common in data security breach class actions.

Employment Discrimination, Peter Reed Corbin, John E. Duvall

Mercer Law Review

After last year's blockbuster year, the United States Supreme Court was relatively quiet in the area of employment discrimination during the 2012 survey period. The High Court's most significant ruling was its decision in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. EEOC, in which the Court held that the First Amendment's Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses create a "ministerial exception" that barred a disability discrimination lawsuit against a religious organization.

However, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit offset the Supreme Court's inactivity by handing down six published Title VII opinions and ten published decisions in …

Environmental Law, Travis M. Trimble

Mercer Law Review

In 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, deciding an issue of first impression, held that a party that enters a consent order to settle potential liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) is not entitled to pursue a cost recovery action against other potentially responsible parties under section 107 of the Act, but may only seek contribution from those parties under section 113(f) of the Act. The court also affirmed a decision by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to approve an exploration plan for oil and gas drilling in the …

Evidence, W. Randall Bassett, Susan M. Clare, Simon A. Rodell

Mercer Law Review

The 2012 term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit included precedential opinions providing helpful guidance on distinguishing the relevant from the irrelevant and on balancing the probative value of a criminal defendant's prior convictions with the potential for unfair prejudice. The 2012 term also included several unpublished decisions analyzing the admissibility of expert testimony under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and the United States Supreme Court's opinion in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Although these unpublished decisions are not binding precedent, they can provide guidance to the practitioner on the Eleventh Circuit's view …

Federal Taxation, Robert Beard

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys notable decisions in federal taxation handed down in 2012 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and lower courts appealable to the Eleventh Circuit. This year, the Eleventh Circuit considered questions relating to securities transactions and the statute of limitations on assessment of taxes, while the Tax Court applied the step-transaction doctrine to a capital contribution to a corporation.

Labor And Employment, Patrick L. Coyle, Alexandra Garrison Barnett, Brooks A. Suttle

Mercer Law Review

Courts within the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit handed down a number of important labor and employment opinions during the January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012 survey period.' The following is a discussion of those opinions.

I. FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT

II. LABOR MANAGEMENT RELATIONS ACT

III. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT

IV. FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT

V. GEORGIA RESTRICTIVE COVENANT LAW

Trial Practice And Procedure, John O'Shea Sullivan, Ashby Kent Fox, Amanda E. Wilson

Mercer Law Review

The 2012 survey period yielded several noteworthy decisions relating to federal trial practice and procedure in the United States Court of Appeals for 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 arbitration, statutory interpretation, subject matter jurisdiction, and civil procedure.

Annual Brainerd Currie Lecture: How Modern Choice Of Law Helped To Kill The Private Attorney General, Erin O'Hara O'Connor

Mercer Law Review

This Essay will briefly explain Currie's approach to choice of law and its significant influence for modern choice-of-law approaches. It will then explain how one of those approaches, the Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws,3 both facilitated further state experimentation with choice-of-law policies and enabled private parties to gain some certainty regarding the governing law for contracts. This Essay will show how the choice-of-law clauses sanctioned in the Second Restatement work in tandem with other choice clauses to enable private parties to avoid undesired laws. Finally, this Essay will argue that the choice clauses have led to the demise of …

After Louboutin: Responding To Trademark Ownership Of Color In Creative Contexts, Monica Sullivan

Mercer Law Review

As an artist, it would be difficult to complete a work of art if you were limited to the use of certain colors, only those colors that no other artist had claimed. Imagine, for instance, that Monet, upon completion of his water lilies, is sued by Picasso for using a certain shade of blue. Picasso claims that the blue used by Monet is the same blue he uses to express melancholy. In fact, Picasso has used that blue throughout a number of his paintings, and it has become somewhat of a theme in his work. Should Picasso have ownership of …

Bad Neighbors And A Luckless Landlord: How The Clean Air Act Doomed The Environmental Protection Agency, Michael S. Weldon Jr.

Mercer Law Review

Air pollution emissions pay little deference to state borders: emissions generated in upwind State A may travel to affect the air quality of downwind State B. As a result of this inevitability and its unfair implications for the downwind state, under the Clean Air Act, upwind states have a "good neighbor" responsibility. Through the good neighbor provision, the upwind state may initially develop a State Implementation Plan (SIP) to determine its own mechanism for restricting emissions that contribute to a downwind state's nonattainment of federal regulations. In August of 2011, however, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took matters into its …

The Beginning Of The End: United States V. Alabama And The Doctrine Of Self-Deportation, Benjamin D. Galloway

Mercer Law Review

In United States v. Alabama, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit struck down several sections of Alabama's Hammon-Beason Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act (H.B. 56). This Act-which has been called the strictest anti-immigration law in the country-demonstrates a growing trend among states to exert more control over immigration regulation. Writing for the court, Judge Wilson concluded that federal law preempted sections 10, 11(a), 13(a), 16, 17, and 27 of H.B. 56. In so holding, the Eleventh Circuit gave a victory to those championing the rights of illegal immigrants while also …