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Paulding County Ga., Bd. of Comm'rs v. Morrison

O.C.G.A. § 9-11-11.1, the anti-SLAPP statute, allows a party defending a lawsuit to preserve its right to seek attorneys' fees and costs if the suit lacks substantial merit.

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These four related appeals stem from two complaints filed in the Superior Court of Paulding County by appellees Thad Morrison III and Melissa W. Morrison, in which the Morrisons challenged two separate zoning decisions issued by appellant, the Board of Commissioners of Paulding County, Georgia, and asserted claims of fraud against the Board and its members collectively, the “Board”.1 The Board filed timely answers to the complaints, both of which included a “Wherefore” clause that contained a prayer for attorney fees. In four separate orders, the superior court concluded that the prayer for attorney fees in the Board’s answers constituted counterclaims against the Morrisons, held that the counterclaims violated the anti-SLAPP Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation statute,2 struck the Wherefore clauses from the Board’s answers, and ordered both the Board and its attorney to pay over $265,000 in attorney fees to the Morrisons as a sanction for the alleged statutory violations. Finding that the superior court’s orders are neither authorized by the law nor the facts of this case, we reverse.

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