CARLEY, Presiding Justice. Beginning in 2006, Carol Walker, who is a physician and a Georgia resident, sold nutritional supplements purchased from Amerireach.com, LLC d/b/a AmeriSciences pursuant to an agreement which provided, among other things, that "[a]ny disputes arising from the terms hereof or relating hereto will be brought in the state and/or federal court of Harris, Texas, the convenience of which I hereby recognize." On February 5, 2009, Dr. Walker sent a written termination of the...
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the petition for voluntary surrender of his license filed by Antonio L. Toliver (State Bar No. 714222). In the petition, Toliver, who has been a member of the State Bar since 2001, admits that on September 12, 2011 he entered a plea of guilty in the Superior Court of Fulton County to one count of homicide by vehicle in the first degree and two counts of serious injury by vehicle, all of which are felony counts. Toliver admits that by...
PER CURIAM. In this reciprocal discipline case, the Review Panel issued its Report and Recommendation recommending that Suzanne Marie Himes (State Bar No. 355601) be disbarred following the report of the disciplinary referee in the State of Florida ordering that Himes be disbarred for failure to cease the practice of law after her indefinite suspension from practice in Florida. The State Bar filed a Notice of Reciprocal Discipline to which it attached a certified copy of the Florida Order...
MELTON, Justice. Appellant Southern LNG, Inc. is a Delaware corporation that owns real property on Elba Island in Chatham County, on which are located liquified natural gas facilities that contain liquid natural gas appellant receives from international producers. When natural gas is needed, the liquid natural gas is removed from the storage facilities through a network of pipes, is returned to a gaseous state, and is then delivered by means of intra- and interstate pipelines. Appellant...
HINES, Justice. Joe Elvin Cloud appeals his convictions for the malice murder of Rocky Heard ("Rocky"), the aggravated assault of Ray Dean Heard ("Ray Dean"), possession of a firearm during the commission of the crime of aggravated assault, affray, and simple battery. 1 For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part and vacate in part. Construed to support the verdicts, the evidence showed that on August 29, 2005, Cloud was driving his pickup truck, in which a business associate, Mike...
HINES, Justice. Dewayne Lee Hendricks appeals his convictions for malice murder, aggravated assault, possession of a deadly weapon at a public gathering, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm during the commission of aggravated assault, all in connection with the shooting death of Maurice Collier, and the non-fatal shootings of Deanthony Fleming and Akimbee Burns. 1 For the reasons that follow, we affirm. Construed to support the verdicts, the evidence...
NAHMIAS, Justice. We granted certiorari in this case to consider whether the Court of Appeals correctly applied the "neutral principles of law" doctrine set forth in Jones v. Wolf, 443 U.S. 595 , 602-606, 99 S.Ct. 3020, 61 L.Ed.2d 775 (1979), to this hierarchical church property dispute. See Timberridge Presbyterian Church, Inc. v. Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, Inc., 307 Ga.App. 191 , 705 S.E.2d 262 (2010). Timberridge Presbyterian Church ("Timberridge") is located on property owned...
HUNSTEIN, Chief Justice. We granted certiorari to determine whether the Court of Appeals erred when it reversed the trial court's grant of judgment on the pleadings on Purchasers' claims for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, negligent supervision, and violation of the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act ("FBPA"). We now hold that the trial court properly granted judgment on the pleadings, and, therefore, we reverse the Court of Appeals. Appellants David Sarif, Les Retter, Jay Baker, Ron...
HUNSTEIN, Chief Justice. We granted David Eugene Cammer a certificate of probable cause to appeal the denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus to consider whether his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance in his consultation with Cammer about a pretrial plea agreement offer. Because trial counsel's consultation fell within the broad range of reasonable professional conduct, we affirm. Following a trial in April 2001, a Chatham County jury convicted Cammer of armed robbery,...
HINES, Justice. Raymond Trey Sapp appeals his convictions for the felony murder of Simpson Tyrone Cates, criminal attempt to possess cocaine, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. 1 For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part and vacate in part. Construed to support the verdicts, the evidence showed that Cates's cousin Carlos Pressley was a seller of illegal drugs. A relative of Sapp's, his co-indictee Christopher Derek Chance, was a regular customer of Pressley's....
CARLEY, Presiding Justice. After a jury trial, Appellant Craig Wayne Gandy was found guilty of felony murder, armed robbery, burglary, and aggravated assault. The trial court entered judgments of conviction on the guilty verdicts and sentenced Appellant to life imprisonment for felony murder, a concurrent 20-year term for burglary, and a concurrent 20-year term for aggravated assault. The armed robbery charge merged into the felony murder conviction. Appellant appeals after the denial of a...
NAHMIAS, Justice. This case involves a dispute over control of property belonging to the oldest church in Georgia, Christ Church in Savannah ("Christ Church"), with a history spanning almost three centuries. As with so many hierarchical church property disputes that end up in court, this case had its genesis in doctrinal positions taken by the general denomination—the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America ("Episcopal Church")—that were opposed by a majority faction of the...
BENHAM, Justice. These appeals arise from annexations by Peachtree City ("the City") of parcels of unincorporated real property in Fayette County. We granted the petitions for a writ of certiorari filed separately by appellants Scarbrough Group and John Wieland Homes & Neighborhoods, Inc., the owners of the three parcels initially annexed by the City. In granting the petitions, we informed the parties we were particularly interested in whether appellee David Worley, the Peachtree City resident...
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on John R. Thompson's (State Bar No. 708600) petition seeking voluntary suspension of his license pending an appeal of his criminal convictions in federal court. See Bar Rule 4-106(f)(1). Because we agree that such a suspension is appropriate, we accept Thompson's petition. On July 14, 2011, a jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia returned verdicts of guilty against Thompson on four felony counts:...
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court pursuant to the petition for voluntary discipline filed by Respondent Christopher D. Elrod (State Bar No. 246640) pursuant to Bar Rule 4-227(b) prior to the filing of a Formal Complaint. In the petition, Elrod admits that a client retained him for representation in a divorce case; that he was retained to replace the client's first attorney after the client was required to pay temporary alimony; and that the client paid a total fee of $4,...
PER CURIAM. Respondent Karen P. Cleaver-Bascombe, a member of the State Bar of Georgia since 1995, 1 was disbarred from the practice of law in the District of Columbia pursuant to a decision of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals that was made final on September 23, 2010, when that court denied her petition for rehearing. See In re Cleaver-Bascombe, 986 A.2d 1191 (D.C.2010); In re Cleaver-Bascombe, 892 A.2d 396 (D.C.2006); In the Matter of Cleaver-Bascombe, 287 Ga. 824 , 700...
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the Report and Recommendation of the Review Panel, recommending that Douglas Liddell Kirkland (State Bar No. 423655) be disbarred following his disbarment in Florida, see Florida Bar v. Kirkland, 42 So.3d 235 (2010). Kirkland was previously suspended indefinitely following his earlier suspension in Florida. In the Matter of Kirkland, 288 Ga. 480 , 704 S.E.2d 806 (2011). In this matter, the State Bar filed a notice of...
PER CURIAM. This matter is before the Court on the petition for voluntary discipline filed by Benjamin C. Free (State Bar No. 275160) pursuant to Bar Rule 4-227(b)(2), in which he seeks a Review Panel reprimand for his violations of Rules 1.3, 1.4, 1.16(d), and 8.1 of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct found in Bar Rule 4-102(d). Free, who became a member of the Bar in 1995, admits that he was retained to represent a client in 2008 in a prosecution for driving under the influence of...
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court pursuant to a petition for voluntary surrender of license filed by Respondent David Michael Fuller (State Bar No. 280100). In the petition, Fuller, who has been a member of the State Bar of Georgia since 1980, admits that on May 25, 2011, he pled guilty in the Superior Court of Cobb County to four counts of forgery, felony violations of the Criminal Code of Georgia. Fuller further admits that his felony convictions constitute a violation...
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on a Notice of Discipline filed by the Office of General Counsel of the State Bar of Georgia, at the direction of the Investigative Panel of the State Disciplinary Board. The State Bar seeks the disbarment of Paul T. Robinson (State Bar. No. 610675). The State Bar attempted to serve Robinson personally at the address listed with the State Bar, but the sheriff filed a return of service non est inventus. The State Bar then properly served...
