This appeal is from the trial court’s order appointing a receiver. Finding no abuse of the trial court’s discretion, we affirm. John Holt and Carl Fulp were law partners, forming Fulp & Holt, P.C., in 2000, with a verbal agreement to split all proceeds evenly. In 2002, they formed Holt & Fulp, LLC, apparently to invest in real estate. On August 2, 2007, the two men decided to dissolve these entities. On August 24, 2007, Holt and his wife1 sued Fulp, alleging breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, fraud, and stubborn litigiousness; they requested the imposition of constructive trusts and that a liquidating agent be appointed. John Holt also filed for a temporary restraining order, and requested that Fulp be required to place with the court fees received from client cases that originated in Fulp & Holt, P.C. In a counterclaim, Fulp alleged breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, fraud, tortious interference with contractual rights, stubborn litigiousness, and violations of the Georgia Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act, and sought an accounting and the dissolution of the entities; Fulp also filed a notice of lis pendens on ten tracts of real property owned by Holt & Fulp, LLC, and requested that a receiver be appointed for Holt & Fulp, LLC. Fulp later filed a motion in which he contended that John Holt had taken files belonging to Fulp & Holt, P.C., had refused to pay debts of Fulp & Holt, P.C., and had locked Fulp out of the building in which Fulp & Holt, P.C., had practiced law, a property owned by Holt & Fulp, LLC; Fulp requested a restraining order, injunctive relief, and repeated his request for appointment of a receiver for Holt & Fulp, LLC. The Holts then amended their complaint to include allegations of violations of the Georgia Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act on Fulp’s part.
After a hearing, the trial court entered a temporary order, which anticipated the appointment of a receiver and required that John Holt and Carl Fulp submit to the court a list of all active files of the law firm as of August 1, 2007, indicating which attorney kept each file after the cessation of the law practice, and that John Holt and Carl Fulp execute affidavits stating the status of expenses and fees relative to each file. Fees collected on these files were to be deposited with the receiver, and twice a month the court would entertain requests to withdraw funds from the fee deposits; the assets of Holt & Fulp, LLC, were to be managed by Hogan, who had previously performed management services, with expenses to be borne equally by the parties. On November 9, 2007, the court appointed a receiver to fulfill the duties set forth in the temporary order.
