PER CURIAM. This case involves a dispute between appellants, who are the trustees of Williams Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and appellees, who are the national African Methodist Episcopal Church and its officials. The dispute is over the ownership of church property in Screven County where Williams Chapel has held services for years as an AME church. In 2008, however, several members of Williams Chapel sought to terminate the local church's relationship with the national AME...
MELTON, Justice. After being injured in an automobile accident, Donna Floyd (sometimes referred to as the insured) received a payment from United Automobile Insurance Company representing the maximum allowable coverage under its policy with the tortfeasor who caused Floyd's injuries. Floyd later brought suit against American International South Insurance Company, with which she carried an uninsured motorist policy with $25,000 worth of coverage. Floyd maintained that, despite the $25,000...
MELTON, Justice. After being injured in an automobile accident, Randolph Adams (sometimes referred to as the insured) brought suit against the tortfeasor, who carried a $25,000 insurance policy with Nationwide. Pursuant to a negotiated settlement, Nationwide exhausted its coverage by paying (1) $15,782.34 to Adams and his attorney, and (2) $9,217.66 to Grady Hospital in order to satisfy a hospital lien for unpaid services rendered to Adams to treat his injuries. Because his damages exceeded $...
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court pursuant to the petition for voluntary surrender of license which Carl William Wright (State Bar No. 777712) filed pursuant to Bar Rule 4-227(b)(2) prior to the issuance of a Formal Complaint. In the petition, Wright, who has been a member of the State Bar of Georgia since 1979, admits that in September 2010 he pled guilty, pursuant to a negotiated agreement, to violating 18 U.S.C. 371, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and 18...
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on Michael J.C. Shaw's (State Bar No. 638601) petition for voluntary surrender of his license. He states that in light of this Court's rejection of his two earlier petitions that sought imposition of a suspension, he asks that the Court accept a voluntary surrender as a sanction for his misconduct. See In the Matter of Shaw, 286 Ga. 725, 691 S.E.2d 544 (2010) (rejecting six-month to one-year suspension); In the Matter of Shaw, 287 Ga....
PER CURIAM. This matter is before the Court on the State Bar's motion for contempt against Respondent Craig Steven Mathis (State Bar No. 477027). By opinion entered March 15, 2010 the Court ordered Mathis to receive a Review Panel reprimand for his admitted violations of Rules 1.3, 1.4 and 8.4(a)(4) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, see Bar Rule 4-102(d). In the Matter of Mathis, 286 Ga. 728, 691 S.E.2d 202 (2010). Although Mathis admitted the violations and requested the...
CARLEY, Presiding Justice. Tony Johnson and Mike Nichols, d/b/a J & N Holdings (Appellants), filed an action on April 29, 2008 seeking recovery for damages from several defendants, including RLI Insurance Company (Appellee), for violations of the Georgia RICO Act, bad faith, fraud, negligence, breach of legal duty, breach of contract, and punitive damages. On June 26, 2008, Appellee filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to OCGA 9-11-12(b)(6). Both parties presented evidence to the court,...
HUNSTEIN, Chief Justice. After a Spalding County jury convicted her of one count of cruelty to children in the first degree, Annie Ling, whose native language is Mandarin Chinese, filed a motion for new trial, arguing that her trial counsel was ineffective in failing to secure an interpreter for trial and in relying on her husband to help convey the State's last minute plea agreement offer. The trial court issued an order summarily denying Ling's motion without explanation, and the Court of...
BENHAM, Justice. A question presented by this case is whether the Judicial Council of Georgia and the Board of Court Reporting of the Judicial Council of Georgia fall within "the judiciary," as that term is used in OCGA 50-13-2(1) of the Administrative Procedure Act and therefore are exempt from the coverage of the Act. 1 We hold that they are part of the judiciary as that term is used in OCGA 50-13-2(1) and reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals. This appeal arose when Brown &...
MELTON, Justice. This case regards the trial court's grant of Ashaunte Miller's motion to suppress evidence of cocaine and a firearm found in his possession after he was stopped by Officer James Williams. In State v. Miller, 300 Ga.App. 55 , 684 S.E.2d 80 (2009), the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's grant of the motion to suppress after determining that a de novo standard of review applied to the State's appeal. We granted certiorari to consider the propriety of this holding....
THOMPSON, Justice. Appellant Nakiedrian Tammirrus Garrett was convicted of felony murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in connection with the shooting death of Darcell Kitchens. 1 He appeals, asserting, inter alia, the trial court erred in failing to give a complete charge on parties to a crime. Finding no error, we affirm. 1. Garrett confronted the victim in a bar and accused him of breaking into the home of Garrett's grandmother. Garrett had a gun; he was...
HUNSTEIN, Chief Justice. Kareem Allen was convicted of the murder of Shamar Edwards and the aggravated assaults of Donald Jumper, Amber McAdory, Patrick Edwards and Quintisha Page. He appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial, 1 challenging the trial court's denial of his motion to sever his trial from that of his co-defendants, the denial of his special demurrer, various other rulings and the failure to give certain jury instructions. Finding no reversible error, we affirm. 1....
MELTON, Justice. This is the second interim appellate review of two related cases in which the State seeks the death penalty. See Fair v. State, 284 Ga. 165, 664 S.E.2d 227 (2008). Antron Dawayne Fair and Damon Antwon Jolly are co-indictees who were originally charged with one count of malice murder and three counts of felony murder in connection with the shooting death of Bibb County Deputy Joseph Whitehead while he was on assignment as an investigator with the Middle Georgia Drug Task...
MELTON, Justice. In 1978, Sandra H. Masters and her husband purchased a home in DeKalb County, and they lived there with their children until they separated in 1992. At that time, Masters' husband moved out of the house, and Masters remained. The parties have lived separately since 1992, but they have never divorced. In 1998, Masters' husband deeded his interest in the house to Masters, and she applied for and received a homestead exemption on the property the following year. Meanwhile, by...
MELTON, Justice. In January 2009, before Henry Cook's term as chairman of the Randolph County Board of Education had expired, three members of the Board, Don Smith, Dymple McDonald, and James Mock (hereinafter collectively the "Board members"), selected Mock to serve as the chairman of the Board. On March 18, 2009, the Governor signed House Bill 563 ("H.B. 563") into law, which was a local law that reconstituted the Board and provided for procedures for the selection of a chairperson and a...
MELTON, Justice. Jordan Jones and Goulding, Inc. ("JJ & G"), a professional engineering firm, designed an automobile shredding facility for Newell Recycling of Atlanta, Inc. (Newell). JJ & G's work was done pursuant to a "Draft Scope of Work" document and letters that it sent to Newell in August 1997, and pursuant to an agreement to prepare a concrete work platform that would control drainage around the shredding facility. After work had been completed on the project and the shredding facility...
MELTON, Justice. Following a jury trial, Martha Ann Horton (Wife) and Randolph Horton (Husband) were divorced pursuant to a Total Judgment and Decree of Divorce entered on June 5, 2009. During the trial of the case, the trial court refused to allow Wife to introduce evidence of a Temporary Order that had been entered in the divorce action on February 15, 2007. In her sole enumeration on appeal, Wife contends that the trial court erred by excluding evidence of the temporary order at trial. We...
BENHAM, Justice. Appellant Elton Erwin Jackson appeals his convictions stemming from the death of Anwar Harris on March 22, 2005. 1 For the reasons set forth below, his convictions are affirmed. 1. Appellant alleges the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions. Construed most strongly in favor of the verdict, the evidence adduced at trial established the following. On March 22, 2005, Anwar Harris, his girlfriend, and infant child were leaving the leasing offices of an apartment...
HINES, Justice. This is an appeal by the State from the grant of the joint motion of defendants Maurice Gleaton and Antonio Clark to bar their trial due to the violation of the constitutional right to a speedy trial. See OCGA 5-7-1(a)(1). 1 For the reasons that follow, we affirm. The State and Gleaton and Clark stipulated to the following before the trial court. On August 7, 2005, Kenneth Kemp was shot and killed at an apartment complex in Fulton County. Through the interviews of three...
MELTON, Justice. Following a jury trial in these consolidated cases, Sonya and Joseph Smith were found guilty of felony murder, involuntary manslaughter, cruelty to children, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and reckless conduct based on the couple's treatment of their eight-year-old son, Josef, which led to the child's death. 1 In Case No. S10A1281, Sonya Smith claims, among other things, that the trial court erred in allowing the prosecutor to make an improper closing argument,...
