Andy Peters

January 30, 2009 | Daily Report Online

A Senate committee on Thursday afternoon approved a plan to dissolve the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council and replace it with a new advisory board.The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Senate Bill 42 by a party-line vote of 5-4. The bill would dissolve the current board and strip it of its authority to independently set policy and spending guidelines.

By Andy Peters

3 minute read

April 10, 2009 | Daily Report Online

In the final hours of this year's legislative session, lawmakers scrapped a proposed budget for the judicial branch that Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears had said was unconstitutional.A joint House-Senate committee on Friday rejected sweeping budget cuts and a reorganization of the judicial branch that had been approved by the Senate earlier in the week.

By Andy Peters

2 minute read

March 18, 2009 | Daily Report Online

A Fulton County judge on Monday ordered a defunct South Georgia road-paving company to pay the state Department of Transportation $2.8 million in a dispute over roadwork.Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford Jr. vacated a Jan. 13 jury verdict that had favored the road paver, Douglas Asphalt Co. The DOT had sued Douglas Asphalt in 2004, saying the road paver should pay $3.

By Andy Peters

2 minute read

May 26, 2010 | Daily Report Online

The Supreme Court of Georgia is working on a modification to its rules to deal with the fallout of a 567 percent increase in the cost to transmit the trial court record of a case that's being appealed.The court is "definitely trying to come up with some kind of resolution to this problem," Jane Hansen, the Supreme Court's public information officer, said on Monday.

By Andy Peters

1 minute read

May 07, 2007 | National Law Journal

Compared with some pilots whose airlines went into bankruptcy protection, retired Delta Air Lines Inc. pilots might feel they're sitting pretty.

By Andy Peters / Fulton County Daily Report

1 minute read

March 26, 2009 | Daily Report Online

Some Atlanta lawyers are representing American International Group Inc.-yes, AIG-in a suit against the U.S. government.The federally bailed-out insurance behemoth, which has been lambasted by anyone with access to a microphone for giving executives millions in bonuses, has sued the U.S. government to recoup $306 million in tax payments, some involving offshore entities that AIG controlled.

By Andy Peters

2 minute read

February 06, 2007 | Daily Report Online

THE ONLY TIME criminal defendants are sentenced to life in prison without any chance of parole is when prosecutors seek the death penalty.But prosecutors appear to have a powerful Republican lawmaker interested in making it easier to seek life-without-parole sentences without having to spend the time and resources mounting a capital case.

By Andy Peters

4 minute read

April 30, 2010 | Daily Report Online

Lawmakers reached a compromise late Wednesday on a $17.8 billion state budget that includes millions of dollars of spending cuts for the judicial branch. However, the budget does restore some money for the use of senior judges in superior courts and also provides most of the funding the Judicial Qualifications Commission had requested.

By Andy Peters

3 minute read

March 09, 2009 | Daily Report Online

Revenue at labor-employment firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak Stewart has grown rapidly in past years. While the labor boutique's revenue continued to grow in 2008, it was at a slower rate.Revenue climbed 14.1 percent to $191,810,291 in 2008, from $168,055,132 the previous year. From 2006 to 2007, Ogletree Deakins' revenue had grown 21.

By Andy Peters

2 minute read

April 23, 2009 | Daily Report Online

Two more lawyers have entered the field to replace Thurbert E. Baker as Georgia's attorney general.Former Dougherty County District Attorney Kenneth B. Hodges III and current Cobb County Commission Chairman Samuel S. Olens announced this week their plans to run for AG. Hodges is a Democrat and Olens is a Republican.Democratic State Rep.

By Andy Peters

2 minute read