• Southeastern Pain Specialists, P.C. v. Brown et al.

    Publication Date: 2018-04-11
    Practice Area: Civil Procedure | Medical Malpractice
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: William Curtis Anderson (Downey & Cleveland LLP), Marietta, for appellant.
    for defendant: James Nicholas Sadd, Daniel Marshall Epstein, Edward Malcum Wynn III (Slappey & Sadd LLC), Atlanta; John E. Hall Jr., Nichole Lee Hair (Hall Booth Smith P.C.), Atlanta; Frank Mitchell Lowrey IV, Robert Lawrence Ashe III (Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, LLP), Atlanta; David Frank Root (Carlock, Copeland & Stair, LLP), Neil Edwards (Attorney at Law), Atlanta, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17G0732

    The Court of Appeals erred in finding that an ordinary negligence instruction was authorized by evidence that a doctor defendant responded inadequately to medical data provided by certain medical equipment during a medical procedure and thus erred in affirming a nearly $22 million award following the trial court's erroneous jury instruction on ordinary negligence.

  • Doe v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-11
    Practice Area: Constitutional Law | Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Chief Justice Hines
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Jeffrey Robert Filipovits (Filipovits Law Firm, P.C.), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Richard Ashley Mallard, Keith A. McIntyre (Ogeechee Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Statesboro, for appellee. Brenda Jean Smeeton, Michele Maria Young, Cory Isaacson (Georgia Justice Project), Atlanta; Nancy Rhinehart DeVetter (Georgia Legal Services), Savannah, for amicus appellant. Christopher M. Carr, Sarah Hawkins Warren (Department of Law), Atlanta, for amicus appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1694

    Because the appeal at issue did not invoke the Georgia Supreme Courts constitutional-question jurisdiction, the Court returned the appeal to the Court of Appeals.

  • Franklin v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-09
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Benham
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Jerilyn Lyshette Bell, Josh David Moore, Gerald P. Word (Georgia Capital Defenders), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Matthew Blackwell Crowder, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; Emily Kathleen Richardson, Brian Keith Fortner, Sean Alexander Garrett (Douglas County District Attorney's Office), Douglasville, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1599

    The trial court properly concluded that it had no authority to determine prior to trial whether the aggravating circumstances State alleged would be sufficiently proved by the evidence to support the imposition of the death penalty.

  • Owens v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-09
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals | Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Nahmias
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: N/a
    for defendant: N/a

    Case Number: S17A1905

    The Georgia Supreme Court directed the Council of Superior Court Judges of Georgia to submit to the Court, no later than Sept. 17, 2018, a proposed Uniform Rule of Superior Court designed to address the issue of inordinate and unjustified delays between a defendant's trial and the direct appeal reaching the Court.

  • Peterson v. Peterson

    Publication Date: 2018-04-09
    Practice Area: Civil Procedure | Trusts and Estates
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Chief Justice Hines
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Joseph J. Burton, Jr. (Mozley, Finlayson & Loggins LLP), Atlanta; Rosemary Smith Armstrong (Armstrong Nix, P.C.), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: J. Franklin Edenfield (Spivey, Carlton & Edenfield, P.C.), Swainsboro; R. Bruce Russell, Clayton, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1488

    The trial court erred in granting summary judgment to mother in sons' suit alleging that their mother and brother breached their duties as executors of their father's will of and as trustees of a bypass trust created by that will.

  • Greene v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-06
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Melton
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Amy Lee Ihrig (Office of the Public Defender, Eastern Judicial Circuit), Savannah, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Meghan Hobbs Hill (Department of Law), Atlanta; Margaret Ellen Heap, Emily Catherine Puhala (Office of the District Attorney Eastern Judicial Circuit), Savannah, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1349

    The trial court did not reversibly err in admitting certain evidence in defendant's murder trial and the evidence supported his convictions.

  • Eller et al. v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-06
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Grant
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Matthew K. Winchester (Law Offices of Matthew K. Winchester), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Aimee F. Sobhani, Christopher M. Carr (Department of Law), Atlanta; Rosemary M. Greene, Sharon Moyer Fox, Paula Khristian Smith, Elizabeth Marian York (Cherokee Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office), Calhoun, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1549

    The evidence sufficiently supported a brother and sister's convictions for killing the sister's boyfriend and leaving his body in the back of his abandoned truck and although the trial court erred in allowing the alternate jurors to retire with the other jurors during deliberations, defendants failed to show that the error harmed them.

  • Douglas v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-06
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Hunstein
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Leon Hicks (Leon Hicks and Associates, P.C.), Jonesboro, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Matthew Blackwell Crowder (Department of Law), Atlanta; Elizabeth A. Baker, Jay Marvin Jackson, Tracy Graham Lawson (Clayton County District Attorney's Office), Jonesboro, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1348

    Although the trial court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress certain evidence and did not reversibly err in admitting other evidence, the trial court did err in the sentences it imposed on defendant's convictions for malice murder and other offenses; accordingly, the Court affirmed the convictions but partially vacated the sentence and remanded for resentencing.

  • Perez v. The State

    Publication Date: 2018-04-06
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Boggs
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Amy Lee Ihrig (Office of the Public Defender, Eastern Judicial Circuit), Savannah, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, Ashleigh Dene Headrick (Department of Law), Atlanta; Matthew Breedon (Office of the District Attorney Eastern Judicial Circuit), Savannah, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1370

    The evidence supported defendant's convictions for malice murder and other crimes after he fatally shot his wife's lover and the trial court did not reversibly err in admitting a hearsay statement from the deceased victim, in light of the overwhelming evidence of defendant's guilt.

  • Gallemore v. White

    Publication Date: 2018-04-05
    Practice Area: Family Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Justice Benham
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Odis William Williams II (The Law Offices of Odis Williams, P.C.), Marietta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Sabrina A. Parker (The Parker Law Firm), Norcross, for appellee.

    Case Number: S17A1464

    Appellant failed to demonstrate on appeal that the trial court erred in entering a contempt order against him in a child support dispute, as he failed to attach the transcript of the hearing below, so the Court affirmed that order but vacated the award of attorney fees to appellee and remanded for further proceedings, as the trial court's order did not contain findings of fact necessary to support the award.