McHugh Fuller Law Group PLLC v. PruittHealth-Toccoa LLC

The trial court erred in awarding permanent injunctive relief to the plaintiff following only an interlocutory hearing without giving the defendant notice of consolidation.

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In these appeals, Appellant McHugh Fuller Law Group, PLLC “McHugh Fuller” challenges both the award of a permanent injunction to Appellee PruittHealth-Toccoa, LLC “PruittHealth” and a subsequent trial court order excluding certain filings from the appellate record in the original appeal. We conclude that the trial court did err, both in granting a permanent injunction following only an interlocutory hearing and in its exclusion of filings from the appellate record. Accordingly, we vacate the award of the permanent injunction, reverse the order designating the appellate record, and remand for further proceedings.

On April 17, 2014, McHugh Fuller, a Mississippi-based law firm, ran a full-page advertisement in a Northeast Georgia local newspaper, The Toccoa Record, noting that Heritage Healthcare of Toccoa, a Stephens County nursing home owned by PruittHealth, had been cited by the government for deficiencies in the care of its residents and inviting those suspecting abuse or neglect of a loved one at the facility to call the law firm. On the following day, PruittHealth filed a verified complaint for temporary and permanent injunctive relief under the Georgia Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act UDTPA, OCGA § 10-1-373 a1 , and petitioned ex parte for a temporary restraining order. That same day, the Stephens County Superior Court entered a temporary restraining order enjoining McHugh Fuller from publishing, in any newspaper or other media, advertisements regarding PruittHealth utilizing the language of the April 17 ad. The order also scheduled a hearing a few weeks thereafter to “determine whether injunctive relief should continue.”

McHugh Fuller Law Group PLLC v. PruittHealth-Toccoa LLC

The trial court erred in awarding permanent injunctive relief to the plaintiff following only an interlocutory hearing without giving the defendant notice of consolidation.

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