Governor Nathan Deal’s Judicial Nominating Commission has recommended candidates to replace Judge Carla Wong McMillian on the Fayette County State Court.

On the JNC’s short list are: Rhonda Kreuziger, owner and senior counsel at the Kreuziger Law Firm, who earned her law degree from John Marshall and was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 2002;  Fayette County Chief Magistrate Robert Ruppenthal, who earned his law degree from Georgia State University and was admitted to the bar in 1994; and Fayette County Magistrate Jason Thompson, who earned his law degree from Sanford University’s Cumberland Law School and was admitted to the bar in 2001.

Ruppenthal was a JNC short-listed candidate for a Griffin Circuit Superior Court vacancy in 2010. Thompson previously ran his own firm and was a municipal court judge in Peachtree City. Deal named McMillian to the state Court of Appeals in January.

The combination juvenile code rewrite and justice reform bill is one big step closer to the governor’s desk.

The Senate passed House Bill 242, without debate, in a 47-0 vote this afternoon.

Governor Nathan Deal was an early supporter of HB 242, which incorporates many of the recommendations by the governor’s criminal justice reform council related to the juvenile justice system. For instance, HB 242 would created a two-tiered system of designated felonies and establish community-based treatment programs to keep low-risk youth offenders out of detention centers.

HB 242 also would modernize and clarify Georgia’s existing laws dealing with neglected and delinquent youth.

Bill sponsor Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said previously his bill is expected to save the state about $85 million over the next five years and eliminate the need for two additional juvenile residential facilities. The governor’s criminal justice system has reported it costs Georgia roughly $91,000 per bed per year to house a youth offender in a residential detention center.

There were changes made to HB 242 in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will have to be agreed upon by the House before the bill is eligible for the governor’s signature.

Willard, who is also an attorney, earlier characterized the changes as “nothing critical.”

The edits included lengthening the time in which judges must hold hearings for juveniles charged with status offenses, such as truancy, from 24 to 72 hours, and moving the effective date from July 1, 2013, to Jan. 1, 2014.

The Senate version also incorporated several related bills, including House Bill 219, which would allow courts to modify or vacate delinquency convictions of minors charged with sex crimes if those minors were being trafficked for sexual servitude or victims of sexual exploitation.

The Georgia Supreme Court has docketed the case challenging the constitutionality of a two-year-old law allowing the governor to remove local school board members if they jeopardize the school district’s accreditation.

The high court confirmed the case was docketed today. A spokeswoman said the case will follow the normal course, meaning the justices will have two court terms, or about six months, to make a decision.

The challenge stems from a legal fight between ousted DeKalb County school board Chairman Eugene Walker and Governor Nathan Deal.

Deal issued an executive order on Feb. 25 suspending six of the school board’s nine members, including Walker. The ouster came after the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation placed the DeKalb school system on probation. On March 13, Deal named new members to the board.

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia Judge Richard Story on Thursday asked the state high court to address two questions raised by the governor’s decision to remove and replace the school board members.

The questions are:

-        Does OCGA § 20-2-73 violate the Georgia constitutional doctrine that each school system shall be under the management and control of a board of education, the members of which shall be elected as provided by law? OR

-        Does the potential removal of school board members as provided for by OCGA § 20-2-73 exceed the General Assembly’s authority to enact general laws regarding local board of education under Article VIII, Section V?

The high court last year rejected Governor Sonny Perdue’s 2010 effort to rebuild the Warren County school board, but the Legislature in 2011 provided governors with new authority to replace school boards. Meanwhile, a restraining order remains in place in Fulton County that has blocked Deal’s attempts to replace the Sumter County board.

For more on this case read today’s article by Staff Writer R. Robin McDonald.

State representatives have approved a bill raising contempt-of-court fines from $500 to $1,000 in a 116-49 vote today. Senate Bill 66 also would clarify in state law that filing answers or counterclaims in magistrate courts would not require verification under oath.

The bill was sponsored in the Senate by Judiciary Non-Civil Committee Chairman Jesse Stone, R-Waynesboro, and shepherded through the House by Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Brookhaven. Both lawmakers are lawyers.

Jacobs told the House prior to the vote that the current $500 is “paltry” and “has not been increased in 30 years.” Jacobs also explained that when a complaint is filed in magistrate court, a verification under oath is required. Nothing in current law requires the same verification for answers or counterclaims, but judges in some circuits are requiring them any way, Jacobs said.

The bill states that verification is not necessary for answers or counterclaims because those filers “are going to have their day in court and will make their case in front of a judge,” Jacob told the House. Despite garnering 49 opposition votes, only one lawmaker expressed concerns about raising the contempt fines during the floor debate.

Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, a businessman, said that judges already can “take away a citizen’s freedom” by sentencing anyone who disobeys orders to up to 20 days in jail “just because they [the citizen] may have had a bad day.”

Legislation overhauling the state’s juvenile code and enacting juvenile justice reforms passed the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday evening but needs a few more votes before it can go to the governor’s desk.

This stage is as far as a similar bill filed last session went before stalling due to concerns over cost. “I hope to get it before the full Senate as quickly as I can. We did some further tweaking [during the Senate committee hearing], and I want to give the senators enough time to look over the bill,” said its sponsor, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs.

House Bill 242 would reorganize the 42-year-old juvenile code, which deals with neglected and delinquent youth. It also incorporates recommendations from the governor’s criminal justice reform council, including creating a two-tiered system of designated felonies and creating more community-based treatment programs to keep juvenile offenders out of detention centers.

Willard characterized the amendments made Wednesday as “nothing critical.” One of the changes would give judges more time in which to hold hearings for juveniles charged with status offenses, such as running away or truancy.

Read more »

Georgia’s Council of Superior Court Judges officially opposes a portion of a bill before the state Senate that would allow licensed gun owners to bring firearms into unguarded courthouses and judicial buildings.

In an interview last week, Douglas County Superior Court Judge David Emerson, who is president of the council, said the council was surprised by the provision after it passed the House of Representatives. Since then, he said today, “Our legislative committee has discussed that, and we are opposed.”

House Bill 512 would ease restrictions on where gun owners with concealed carry permits may bring their firearms. The provision opposed by the superior court judges’ council states that gun owners may carry their guns into government buildings and courthouses “where ingress to such building or courthouse is not restricted or screened by security personnel during the hours the government building or courthouse is open for business.”

The House approved the bill in a 117-56 vote on March 7. The bill is now before the Senate Judiciary Non-Civil Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Jesse Stone, R-Waynesboro, who is a lawyer. Stone could not be reached immediately to respond to the judges’ opposition.

DeKalb County Sheriff Thomas Brown also opposes carry provisions in the bill, known as the Safe Carry Protection Act. “Though named such, this bill is everything but safe for the citizens of this state,” Brown said in a written statement today.

Specifically, Brown pointed to provisions that would allow licensed gun owners to carry guns in government buildings, places of worship, bars and certain school safety zones; allow some individuals who had their  licenses revoked to regain eligibility; and remove fingerprinting requirements for license renewals.

The bill “was passed under an emotional move more than likely resulting from the urging of licensed gun holders with the desire to protect themselves without thinking of all the possible consequences and circumstances,” Brown said.

“In DeKalb, we have had several occasions in which victims, criminal suspects and even those in opposing civil legal positions have argued and even fought,” he added. “The only guns needed for protection of these individuals were the ones carried by my deputies. If those involved in courthouse conflicts possessed weapons, the outcomes would definitely have been different.”

For previous reporting on HB 512, go to http://www.dailyreportonline.com/PubArticleDRO.jsp?id=1202591517466

A lawyer is among Governor Nathan Deal’s six appointees to the DeKalb County School Board.

Karen Wheel Carter, who chairs Georgia Perimeter College’s Business and Social Science Department, earned her law degree from Ohio State University and was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 2010.

Carter, who lives in the Lakeside Community, will represent the school board’s eighth district.

She and the other five appointees are scheduled to be sworn in today at 1 p.m. at the DeKalb County School Board headquarters.

Deal announced his picks during a press conference this morning. The other appointees include John Coleman, District 1; Michael Erwin, District 2; David Campbell, District 3; Joyce Morley, District 7; and Thad Mayfield, District 9.

A federal judge earlier this month allowed Deal to move forward with removing six of the school board’s members. The board, and specifically those six members, came under fire after the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement put the school district on probation.

After the removals were announced, more than 400 people applied for the six seats. The list was pared down to 63 candidates.

Deal said today that he did not engage in the interviewing process with the candidates and instead relied on the recommendations of his nomination committee.

A 247-page bill overhauling the state’s 42-year-old juvenile code passed the Georgia House of Representatives this morning in a 173-0 vote. House Bill 242, sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs, also includes several recommendations from the governor’s criminal justice reform council focusing on juvenile offenders.

Those recommended policy changes include creating two tiers of designated felonies and rerouting low-risk juvenile offenders to community-based treatment programs rather than youth detention centers. Willard said the measures are expected to save the state $85 million over the next five years and avoid the need to build two new residential detention centers.

The same chamber unanimously passed the juvenile code overhaul last year, which deals primarily with neglected and delinquent youth. However, that bill was held up in the Senate after prosecutors, indigent defense lawyers and county governments expressed concerns over how much the bill would cost to implement.

Willard’s bill this year softened some mandates on the involvement of prosecutors and indigent defense lawyers in juvenile court proceedings to address those cost burden concerns. “Doing what is the right thing for our children is not a partisan issue,” Willard told the House chamber before the vote.

A bill that would give insurers at least 30 days to respond to a settlement before a bad faith claim could be brought against them has passed one chamber of the Georgia General Assembly.

State representatives approved House Bill 336 on Wednesday in a 163-0 vote.

HB 336 pertains only to torts claiming personal injury, bodily injury or death arising from the use of a motor vehicle. It also is limited to regulating offers of settlement submitted prior to the filing of a lawsuit.

The bill is the product of negotiations among a secret group of plaintiffs’ and insurance defense lawyers convened by the speaker of the House earlier this year. Its lead sponsor is Rep. Jay Powell, R-Camilla, a general practice lawyer and former mayor.

HB 336 also would require that all settlement offers contain specific information, such as the amount of payment and release details, and would allow insurers to request clarification on the facts of the case without that request constituting a counteroffer.

The Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, which fought legislation last session that sought to regulate bad faith claims and Holt demands, said it accepts HB 336. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce says it supports codifying and extending the time for response to demand letters and clarifying who the third  party insurer must pay.

The House Judiciary Committee today approved a bill regulating Holt demands and bad faith claims in personal injury and wrongful death cases related to motor vehicles.

House Bill 336 would give insurers at least 30 days to respond to a settlement offer before a bad faith claim could be brought against them. It would require that all settlement offers contain the specific time period in which the offers must be accepted, the amount of payment, the parties the claimants would release, the type of release and the claims to be released.

The bill also would allow insurers to request clarification on the facts of the case, including term limits, liens, subrogation and standing to release claims, and medical bills and records, without the insurers’ requests constituting a counteroffer.

Besides being limited only to motor vehicle cases, the bill is limited to regulating offers of settlement submitted prior to the filing of a lawsuit.

HB 336, sponsored by Rep. Jay Powell, R-Camilla, is the result of  negotiations among a secret group of lawyers from both plaintiffs’ and insurance defense practices commissioned before the session started in January by the speaker of the House.

The Georgia Legislature considered similar legislation last session, including House Bill 1175, which would have allowed an insurer 60 days to respond to a settlement offer and required offers to include copies of medical records and billing statements.

Judiciary Committee approval means HB 336 will go to the House Rules Committee, which will decide when it comes up for a vote by the full chamber.