Warren , Justice . In this case, Petitioners challenge the 2018 election for lieutenant governor—an election in which more than 3.7 million Georgians cast a vote—alleging that defects in electronic voting machines cast doubt on the election in which Geoff Duncan defeated Sarah Riggs Amico by 123,172 votes. 1 Elections are critical to our democratic republic. We give great credence to the choices citizens make when they engage in the democratic process by voting to select their...
Melton , Chief Justice . In March 2011, Elaine Gold, Amy Shaye, Heather Hunter, and Roderick Benson ("Appellees") sued Appellants, the DeKalb County School District ("the District") and the DeKalb County Board of Education ("the Board") for, inter alia, breaching an agreement to provide two-years advance notice prior to suspending contributions to their DeKalb County Tax-Sheltered Annuity Plan ("TSA Plan") accounts. Finding that Appellees failed to establish the existence of an enforceable...
Bethel , Justice . Nearly twenty years ago, Appellant Donald Davis pleaded guilty to the murder of Shereka Smith and was convicted and sentenced. Davis did not timely pursue a direct appeal. Following his unsuccessful pursuit of a writ of habeas corpus, he filed a motion for an out-of-time appeal of his conviction, which the trial court denied. Davis now appeals that denial. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm. On December 17, 1999, a Monroe County grand jury indicted Davis on...
Peterson , Justice . Cobb and Gwinnett Counties have sued telephone companies for their failure to collect and remit to the Counties a charge imposed on subscribers to offset the cost of 911 services. The telephone companies have raised various defenses to the Counties' suits, including that the 911 charge is a tax that the Counties are not allowed to collect by a lawsuit like this one. The trial court rejected that argument and allowed the cases to proceed, but the Court of Appeals vacated...
Boggs , Justice . This appeal involves the interpretation of a provision of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), codified in Georgia as OCGA 19-9-40 et seq. The case stems from the trial court's dismissal of a child custody modification action, filed by Christopher Thomas Plummer (Father), on the ground that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to consider the matter, because neither Father, nor Elia Marie Plummer (Mother), nor the child was living in...
MELTON , Presiding Justice . In Lynchar, Inc. v. Colonial Oil Industries, Inc. , 341 Ga.App. 489, 801 S.E.2d 576 (2017), the Court of Appeals found that certain individual guaranties of Lynchar, Inc.'s debt to Colonial Oil Industries, Inc. were unenforceable under Georgia's Statute of Frauds. See OCGA 13-5-30. Specifically, the Court of Appeals held that the guaranties were unenforceable because they do not reference the legal name of the corporate debtor ("Lynchar, Inc. d/b/a T & W...
HUNSTEIN , Justice . In May 2007, the Medical Center Hospital Authority ("Hospital Authority") filed an action against the Columbus Board of Tax Assessors and related parties (together, "the Tax Board") in which it sought a declaration that its leasehold interest in a building located on real property owned by a private entity constituted public property exempt from ad valorem taxation under OCGA 48-5-41 (a) (1). The superior court granted summary judgment to the Hospital Authority,...
Peterson , Justice . Derrick Williams appeals from the denial of his motion for a new trial following his conviction for malice murder over the death of his wife, Finesse Dawson. 1 Williams argues that the trial court erred by (1) excluding evidence regarding drugs found in Dawson's blood; (2) admitting evidence of prior bad acts by Williams; and (3) allowing an irrelevant and prejudicial demonstration. We conclude that the trial court committed no reversible error in excluding the...
PETERSON , Justice . Icon Technology Consulting, Inc. ("Icon") filed this lawsuit seeking to enforce a default judgment it obtained from a Missouri court against Lemcon USA Corp. ("Lemcon"). A Georgia trial court rejected Lemcon's attempt to set aside the default judgment, and the Court of Appeals of Georgia dismissed Lemcon's appeal on the ground that Lemcon (1) could not invoke the Georgia trial court's inherent power to set aside a judgment within the same term of court in which it was...
Boggs , Justice . The State appeals from the trial court's order granting the petition of DeCarlos Bobby Butler for a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that he received ineffective assistance of plea counsel. The habeas court erred in granting Butler's petition, because his allegations of ineffective assistance were procedurally barred by not having been raised at the first practicable moment. We therefore reverse the judgment of the habeas court. In 2010, Butler was indicted in Fulton...
MELTON , Presiding Justice . Following a jury trial regarding the divorce of Tangi Renita Amayo (Wife) and Galahad Owen Amayo (Husband), the trial court awarded attorney fees to Husband under OCGA 9-15-14. 1 Thereafter, Wife filed an application for a discretionary appeal, which we granted. In doing so, we directed the parties to address the following question: Did the trial court err in its September 30, 2016 order on the parties' cross-motions for attorney fees by ordering Wife to pay $...
HUNSTEIN , Justice . On September 17, 2013, a Bibb County grand jury indicted Appellant Brandon Davis for malice murder and felony murder predicated on aggravated assault in connection with the April 1, 2013 stabbing death of Chassity Lester. Pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement, the State nolle prossed the malice murder count and Davis pled guilty to felony murder; he received a life sentence. Two weeks later, within the same term of court, guilty plea counsel moved to withdraw Davis'...
Hines , Chief Justice . This is an appeal by the Sexual Offender Registration Review Board from a final order of the Superior Court of Fulton County declaring that OCGA 42-1-14, which sets forth a procedure for the classification of sexual offenders according to their recidivism risks and in subsection (e) requires any "sexually dangerous predator" to wear and pay for an electronic GPS monitor for the rest of his life, 1 violates several provisions of the United States and Georgia...
NAHMIAS , Justice . This case involves challenges to the City of Atlanta's attempted annexation of five areas. The trial court correctly held that the annexations were invalid because at the time they would have become effective, the areas in question were already part of the newly incorporated City of South Fulton and thus ineligible for annexation by Atlanta. Accordingly, we affirm. 1. On April 26, 2016, the Governor signed House Bill 514 ("HB 514"), a local act that incorporated the...
GRANT , Justice . The fate of Dorsey "Doss" Wallace's stock in the family business, Wallace Electric Company, has caused a remarkable amount of disagreement between Doss and his brothers, Gary and Phillip Wallace. The parties offered competing narratives in the case below about which agreement, if any, governed the ownership of stock in Wallace Electric, and about what the terms of those agreements would require. The trial court ultimately concluded in a bench trial that Doss should be paid...
Hunstein , Justice . In Wester v. United Capital Financial of Atlanta, LLC , 282 Ga.App. 392 , 638 S.E.2d 779 (2006), and again in United Capital Financial of Atlanta v. American Investment Assoc. , 302 Ga.App. 400 , 691 S.E.2d 272 (2010), the Court of Appeals held that a creditor who redeems property following a tax sale has first priority to excess funds resulting from that tax sale. The Court of Appeals overruled those decisions in DLT List, LLC. v. M7ven Supportive Housing &...
MELTON , Presiding Justice . In this case regarding the interpretation of Georgia's Criminal Reproduction and Sale of Recorded Material statute, OCGA 16-8-60, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia has certified the following question for our consideration: Whether the exemption to OCGA 16-8-60, set forth in 16-8-60 (c) (1), applies such that internet radio services are exempt from application of 16-8-60 For the reasons set forth below, we find that...
BENHAM , Justice . Serless West ("West"), a former employee of the City of Albany ("City"), filed a complaint in federal court against the City and two individuals setting forth, among other things, a claim under the Georgia Whistleblower Act ("GWA"), OCGA 45-1-4. With respect to West's claims under the GWA, she seeks economic and non-economic damages resulting from alleged retaliation for disclosing what she deems to be certain financial irregularities in the City's utility department....
Benham , Justice . Serless West ("West"), a former employee of the City of Albany ("City"), filed a complaint in federal court against the City and two individuals setting forth, among other things, a claim under the Georgia Whistleblower Act ("GWA"), OCGA 45-1-4. With respect to West's claims under the GWA, she seeks economic and non-economic damages resulting from alleged retaliation for disclosing what she deems to be certain financial irregularities in the City's utility department....
MELTON , Presiding Justice . Bernard Norton, by and through Kim Norton, brought a wrongful death action against a number of defendants 1 who were affiliated with a nursing home in which his wife, Lola Norton, died. Bernard claimed that negligent treatment caused Lola's death. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss the complaint or, alternatively, to stay the proceedings and compel arbitration of all claims in accordance with an agreement entered into by Lola at the time she was admitted...
