Georgia Supreme Court Wrapup

Decisions of interest to this blog from September 24:

Hawthorn Suites Golf Resorts, LLC v. Feneck: Hawthorn Suites lost its appeal of the trial court's dismissal of its lawsuit against Dana Feneck on the grounds of forum non conveniens. Basically, forum non conveniens is the principal that the trial should be help where it is most convenient for the trial court, witnesses, and parties. Feneck had been hired by Hawthorn Suites to manage a property in Louisiana and eventually moved there. The trial court granted Feneck motion that trial should be in Louisiana, not Georgia. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed. Full Opinion

Alejandro v. Alejandro: This was a divorce action where both parties committed adultery, but the trial court found the cause of the dissolution of the marriage was the husband's return to another state for work purposes. Thus, it was proper for the Court to award the wife with sole custody of the children, as that was in their best interests. Since adultery was not the cause of the dissolution of the marriage, making the husband responsible for certain debts does not violate Georgia law that says alimony should not be awarded to a party whose adultery caused a divorce. Full Opinion

Hammond v. Hammond: Wife appeals the trial court's award of custody to Husband and the calculation of child support obligations. As to the award of custody, the trial court found it was in the best interests of the children to allow them to stay with the father because they would not have to change school districts. The trial court has broad discretion in awarding custody, and the Supreme Court "will not interefere with any such decision absent a clear abuse of discretion." It is "not an abuse of discretion if there is any evidence" to support the decision. As to the child support obligation, the wife's income was improperly calculated because it included child support payments from a previous relationship. Full Opinion

Scarborough v. Scarborough: In the absence of a provision in the parties' settlement agreement and divorce decree incorporating the settlement agreement, a non-custodial parent is entitled to a credit against his or her child support obligation for social security retirement benefits which become payable directly to his or her children at some time following the execution of the settlement agreement. The Court cited two early 1960s cases addressing similar issues, and said in effect that the Social Security disability payments made to the dependent child are a substitute for income and that retirement benefits were earned in part by the parent. The payments can only be used as an off-set if the payments were not already being made at the time of the agreement and divorce decree or if there is not otherwise a provision that addresses future retirement benefits in the settlement agreement or divorce decree. Full Opinion

State Rep. to Sponsor Bill For Unpaid Family Leave

State Rep. Margaret Kaiser (D-Atlanta) said she will sponsor a bil that would provide up to 24 hours of unpaid leave per year for workers to deal with their families' medical and educational needs. This would include such tasks as taking children to doctors appointments, registering the children for school, or attending parent-teacher conferences.

For more on this proposed legislation: "local newspaper"

Wild Adventures Auctioned Off

Update to Wild Adventures to be Sold: Wild Adventures, the Valdosta, Georgia, theme park, was sold at a private auction on Tuesday. Herschend Family Entertainment, a Missouri company, bought the South Georgia amusement park for $34.5 million. Herschend is already familiar with the Georgia players as it currently operates Stone Mountain Park in suburban Atlanta.

Cypress Gardens, the Florida theme park, was sold for $16.8 million at the private auction.

Adventure Parks Group LLC, the parent company of Wild Adventures and Cypress Gardens, is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The sales are currently awaiting the approval of Middle District of Georgia bankruptcy court.

Strange News Story of the Day...

Passenger Smuggles Horse in Dog Crate on Plane

The minature horse was crammed into a dog crate in a flight from Germany to Atlanta and was to continue onto South America. The horse is apparently in good shape now; the passenger and the airline are being issued fines.

Changed Your Name? Check The Status of Your Drivers License

When the federal government passed the Federal Real ID Act in 2003, the Georgia Drivers Services Department began checking drivers license names against the Social Security Administration's database. If your name did not check against your name with the SSA (according to your social security number), then your drivers license was canceled. The Drivers Services Department would send you a letter, at your last known address, to tell you that you could clear up the discrepancy within 120 days.

Many individuals, particularly married women, have been hard hit when they find out, sometimes years later, that their drivers licenses were canceled. So if you have changed your name for any reason, including marriage, divorce, adoption, please check with the Drivers Services Department to make sure your license is valid.

See the "local newspaper" story for more information.

You can contact the Driver Services Department at 678-413-8400 and the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213.

DeKalb County Considering Changing Last Call Time

DeKalb Commissioner Jeff Rader drafted a proposed ordinance that moves the bar-closing times in DeKalb County from 4 a.m. Monday through Friday and 3 a.m. Saturday and Sunday to 2 a.m. Monday through Saturday and midnight on Sunday. It does not apply to bars in the city of Decatur. The proposed ordinance would take affect January 1, 2008.

For More Information: Jeff Rader, DeKalb Board of Commissioners
Creative Loafing: DeKalb to Roll Back Bar Hours

Business News From Around the State

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Turner Broadcasting System have made the 2007 Working Mothers 100 Best Companies List. For the full list, go to Working Mother.

General Motors union workers are on strike; United Auto Workers members are picking the Doraville plant after the strike started late Monday morning. The Doraville plant is scheduled to close in 2008. Roughly half of the Doraville plant members, active and retired, live in Gwinnett County. For more information, see the Gwinnett Daily Post.

Perry in Houston County is on the very-short list for an unnamed company wishing to locate offices and "good paying jobs" in the area. The other option is an unnamed Alabama community. The Macon Telegraph has more on the unnamed business.

The Department of Trnasportation granted Delta Airlines the right to fly non-stop between Atlanta and Shanghai, China. Delta has another application pending for non-stop service between Atlanta and Beijing. US Airways is the only other major airline without service to China.

J. Christopher's Set to Expand

Atlanta based J. Christopher's has plans to expand beyond Atlanta, Savannah, and Tampa, Florida, to include stores in Macon, Georgia, and Nashville, Tennessee. To help J. Christopher's, founders Chris Brogdon and Jeff McCann have hired Dick Holbrook and Sam Haddock to serve as president and chief operating officer, respectively. More from the "local newspaper."

Campbell Asks To Surrender Law License

Bill Campbell, the former Atlanta mayor now serving a prison sentence for tax fraud, has asked the Georgia Supreme Court to allow him to voluntarily surrender his law license.

News Coverage: Associated Press

Force Moving Back to Gwinnett

The Georgia Force is moving back to The Arena at Gwinnett Center with a 10 year lease. The team played at The Arena for the 2002 and 2004 seasons but has spent the past couple seasons at Philips Arena in downtown Atlanta.

See: Atlanta Business Chronicle

Hawks & Thrashers Can Sign Long-Term Contracts

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals issued a ruling on Tuesday in favor of Atlanta Spirit LLC in their fight against estranged owner Steve Belkin. Now the owner of the Atlanta Hawks and the Atlanta Thrashers can enter into long-term contracts without a court's approval. This allows the teams to freely negotiate with Josh Smith and Marian Hossa for long-term contracts.

The ruling also allows the Atlanta Spirit group to buy out Steve Belkin. Previous court orders allowed Belkin to buy out the rest of the Atlanta Spirit group.

Recording Phone Calls

With phones such as the new Nokia N81 and others allowing owners to record phone conversations, now is an important time to review Georgia law on recording phone calls.

O.C.G.A. Section 16-11-62 makes it unlawful for "any person in a clandestine manner to intentionally to overhear, transmit, or record or attempt to overhear, transmit, or record the private conversation of another which shall originate in any private place" and for "any person, through the use of any device, without the consent of all persons observed, to observe, photograph, or record the activities of another which occur in any private place and out of public view." There are some exceptions, including when a person is observed in jail and when the owner or occupier of property does so for security purposes and crime prevention.

O.C.G.A. Section 16-11-66 says that nothing in the above noted code section "shall prohibit a person from intercepting a wire, oral, or electronic communication where such person is a party to the communication or one of hte parties to the communication has given prior consent to such interception."

Thus, in Georgia, you can record the conversations that you are a part of, the conversations that you have on your cellphone. However, be careful about recording conversations that other people are having, unless you have their consent.

But This News Story is from Georgia...

A cautionary tale for fast-food workers: don't put too much salt on that cop's free hamburger. Fast Food Worker Arrested

At least it isn't a Georgia Court...

From the tipline of local attorneys: Ah, those crazy Californians. California Carpenter Has Right To Work Nude.

Let's hope this one doesn't catch on anytime soon.

Updates to Your Estate Plan

Several readers have asked how often they should update their estate plan, including their wills, advanced directives (living wills) and power of attorneys. My general recommendation is a cursory review every year and a detailed review every five years or any time that there is a major event. Major events include:

• Marriage
  
• Divorce
  
• Birth or Adoption of a Child
  
• When a child reaches 18 years old
  
• When you receive a significant inheritance
  
• When you have a significant change in assets
  
• Change in health status

Change in Occupancy Tax for Valdosta

The Valdosta City Council approved a new ordinance that gives the city authority to collect a pre-existing five percent occupancy and tourist tax on the hotels and motels in the city limits. The tax had previously been collected by the Lowndes County government, but an agreement between the city and county expired on June 30. Valdosta hotels and motels that were paying the county now have 45 days to register with the city. See the Valdosta Daily Times for news coverage.

Wild Adventures To Be Sold

Wild Adventures, the southwest Georgia theme park, is set to be sold. Actually, the parent company of the theme park, Adventures Parks Group, LLC, will be auctioned off in Macon on September 25, as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing from 2006. Also at auction is the Winter Haven, Florida, theme park Cypress Gardens. Interested bidders would have to meet a minimum floor, which for Wild Adventures is set at $35,850,000. The auction is closed to the public.

News Coverage: Albany Herald and Valdosta Daily Times

Judge: Govt Needs Court OK for Internet Records

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero struck down parts of the Patriot Act, insisting that government investigators must have a court's approval before ordering ISPs, telephone companies and public libraries to turn over records without telling its customers. As written, the Patriot Act "offfends the fundamental consitutional principles of checks and balances and separation of powers" and that the government's orders must be subject to meaningful judicial review.

The Associated Press story is available at the Augusta Chronicle.

Voter ID Law Upheld

U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy upheld Georgia's voter identification law, saying that the statute does not impose a significant burden on the right to vote. Murphy noted the government's efforts to educate voters that are most likely to not have a valid state-issued ID as well as the absentee voting option where no photo ID is required. You can read the order at the Daily Report: Part 1 and Part 2.

The law will be enforced; as of now, the next time you visit the polls, you will have to show a valid form of ID.

Bynum Files for Divorce

Juanita Bynum, nationally known evangelist, has filed for divorce from her estranged husband Bishop Thomas Weeks III, only two weeks after he allegedly attacked her. According to the local newspaper, a relative said that Bynum filed from divorce, but court records were unavailable to confirm the filing. See the "local newspaper" for more details and coverage of the previous alleged attack by Weeks.

Catching Up After Labor Day...

Here's all the items of interest from around the state over the past several days:

Atlanta:

Coca-Cola is in the midst of a reorganization of its North American division. During this reorganization, Coke will cut at least 125 jobs, mostly in the Atlanta headquarters, by year's end. These are the first layoffs since 2003 when they cut 1,000 jobs in North America and in 2000 when they cut 5,200 jobs world-wide. See the "local newspaper."

Rubinstein Atlanta Perimeter LLC has asked DeKalb County to rezone an area around Perimeter Mall to allow for redevelopment to add a hotel and office space on Perimeter Center Parkway. See the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

East Point: The City of East Point and Georgia Power have come to an agreement that will allow a 19-mile natural gas pipeline to carry gas to a Smyrna area plant. See the Marietta Daily Journal.

Gwinnett: A local man is filing a $25 million lawsuit against the city of Duluth because Wal-Mart has been unable to get required building permits for a store it planned to build on the man's land. Currently, the city has a moratorium on all buildings larger than 75,000 square feet. Jack Bandy, the local landowner, is being represented by former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes. Gwinnett Daily Post

Rome:

After bar owner Doug Pedrick admitted buying liquor and wine for two of his establishments in Rome from one of his establishments in Cartersville, the Rome Alcohol Control Commission voted to revoke the two establishments 2007 liquor pouring licenses. Pedrick is expected to file a lawsuit in federal district court soon. See the Rome News Tribune.

Rome is also following the lead of Kennesaw and several other Georgia cities in amending local ordinances that prohibit weapons at city parks.

Major development is slated to happen on the stretch of U.S. 411 near the Wal-Mart. The Sembler Co. has a contract on one corner, which could house Target, Publix, Dick's Sporting Goods, and/or a Best Buy. See Rome News Tribune.


Georgia:

The Public Service Commission adopted a policy where residential customers facing disconnection will not be cut off if the high temperature for the day is forecasted to be 98 degrees or higher or the heat index is forecasted to reach 110 degrees or higher. The protection order takes effect in ten days. The rule applies only to Georgia Power, the only regulated electric utility in Georgia, which already had the same internal operating policy. See the Savannah Morning News and a "local newspaper."

House Speaker Glenn Richardson is proposing a shift to a broader sales tax and away from property taxes. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle wonders if a cut in the state income tax may be more beneficial. See The Political Insider. State Senator John Wiles from Kennesaw said that the proposal would take away local control of tax funds. See the Marietta Daily Journal

U.S. Rep. Paul Brown voted no on the Microloan Amendments and Modernization Act. See Georgia Politics Unfiltered.

New food safety rules go into effect on December 1. The scoring system adds letter grades and the reports must be posted near the entrance as well as in drive-through windows. Also, employees must use gloves or utensils when touching ready-to-eat food and the restaurant must keep a food saftey certified manager on staff. See the "local newspaper."

Elsewhere:

Shaquille O'Neal, basketball star, has filed for divorce from his wife in Miami, Florida. Fox Sports with the report.