The state Supreme Court has voted 4-3 to revisit whether a Savannah-area golf club and homeowners association may be liable for damage inflicted by alligators that live in a system of lagoons on the property.

The lawsuit before the court was brought by the heirs of 83-year-old Gwyneth Williams, whose mangled body was found floating in one of the lagoons at a gated community near Savannah in October 2007. The plaintiffs contend the club and association didn’t do enough to monitor the lagoons and remove large alligators.

An alligator trapper killed an 8-foot long, 130-pound alligator that had parts of Williams’ body in its stomach, but there is some dispute over whether the alligator killed Williams. Although the county medical examiner said an 8-foot alligator was to blame for Willilams’ death, the club and association have argued that Williams, who was in poor health, may have died from a heart attack before encountering the alligator, which would have discovered the body and dragged it into the lagoon.

In March, a divided state Court of Appeals ruled the case could go forward. The majority said case law that generally immunizes landowners from liability for wild animals doesn’t preclude recovery against the defendants in Williams’ case, because the defendants knew alligators were common in the lagoon system. A dissent said it was unreasonable to expect the defendants to continually patrol the coastal community to identify and remove large alligators.

Chief Justice Carol W. Hunstein, Presiding Judge George H. Carley and Justice Robert Benham dissented from today’s decision to grant the defendants’ petitions for certiorari.

Justice George Carley announced this morning that he will step down from the Supreme Court of Georgia next July, allowing Gov. Nathan Deal to choose his successor and precluding an election for his seat for which some lawyers around the state had been planning to run. 

Just last week, Atlanta attorney Scott Bonder announced that his campaign for the high court had already raised more than $85,000. In August, Bonder and divorce lawyer Tamela L. Adkins told the Daily Report that each planned to run for court seat expected to be vacated by Carley, who had said earlier he would serve out his term that ends in December 2012.

In the same August story, Presiding Judge Anne Elizabeth Barnes of the state Court of Appeals said she was considering joining the race.

Carley said Tuesday in a press release issued by the court, “I am announcing this now to notify potential candidates before the election cycle gets into full swing.”

In unrelated news that could nonetheless interest would-be candidates for the high court, the U.S. District Court is seeking to hire a new magistrate judge to replace Judge C. Christopher Hagy, who is stepping down next June. The deadline for applications is Oct. 21, according to this link.

The Daily Report will have a full report on Carley’s announcement in its next edition, which will be online late this afternoon.

The full text of Carley’s press release is below.

GEORGE CARLEY TO STEP DOWN JULY 2012

Atlanta, October 4, 2011 – Presiding Justice George H. Carley announced today that he will leave the Supreme Court of Georgia on July 17, 2012, after all cases from the January term of court have been decided.

That means that Governor Nathan Deal will have the opportunity next year to appoint a replacement to the state’s highest court. Whoever the governor appoints will then have to run for election in 2014.

 “I am announcing this now to notify potential candidates before the election cycle gets into full swing,” the Presiding Justice said. Carley, 73, announced earlier that he did not plan to run for re-election.

When he steps down, Carley will leave the high court as its Chief Justice. The court voted unanimously last month to have him serve as the leader of Georgia’s judicial system for two months before he leaves the court. He will become the first in Georgia history to have served as Chief Justice and Presiding Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, as well as Chief Judge and Presiding Judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals.

The Presiding Justice said that although he is stepping down from the state Supreme Court, he intends to continue being involved in the legal field. “I have loved every minute I have served,” said Carley, who has been a judge for 32 years.

Chief Justice Carol Hunstein is handing over the reins to Presiding Justice George Carley…briefly. Click here to see what’s happening.

Scott Bonder, a civil litigator from Fried & Bonder, formally announced his candidacy for the state Supreme Court last week with an e-mail highlighting dozens of endorsements from members of the bar. The release, which lists his endorsements on the second page, can be found here.

Bryan Tyson over at Strickland Brockington Lewis has released his latest package of statistics on his blog about the Supreme Court of Georgia. He’s been compiling statistics on the court’s voting in civil cases since David E. Nahmias joined the court in September 2009.

Among the highlights from his comparison of the court’s voting patterns from one year to the next: Nahmias no longer is the justice most likely to be in the majority in civil cases. From September 2010 through July 2011, Justice Hugh P. Thompson voted with the majority in every civil case decided by the court, according to Tyson’s numbers. Read more »

With the next round of judicial elections one year away, it’s time for aspiring judges to begin making plans.

Several incumbent state appellate judges have to face the voters next year, and, with Presiding Justice George H. Carley of the Supreme Court saying he plans to retire when his term expires at the end of 2012, at least one open seat is likely. Read more »

After a lawsuit that went all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court and back to the Muscogee County Superior Court, a citizen’s group finally won its prize: The asphalt parking lot behind the Columbus Public Library is gone, and the 18 acres soon will be covered with grass and trees, reports the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer today.

The park dream goes back to a 1999 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax approved by voters to buy land for a library and a park from the abandoned Columbus Square Mall. The library was built, but the government later decided to sell the land for a mixed use retail and housing development. Read more »

Georgia Supreme Court justices who wouldn’t be persuaded to change their minds on the fate of the state’s charter schools may regret it later, one state legislator is suggesting.

The court today denied requests by State Attorney General Sam Olens and charter school advocates that it reconsider last month’s ruling that struck down as unconstitutional a law that authorizes a state commission to approve charter schools. The vote remained 4-3 today, with the only new thing being a beefed-up dissent by Justice David E. Nahmias—and further gnashing of teeth by charter school proponents. Read more »

By a vote of 4-3, the Georgia Supreme Court has struck down as unconstitutional a law that authorizes a state commission to approve charter schools. The ruling is a victory for Gwinnett County School District and other local school districts that had challenged the law.

Writing for the majority in the long-awaited decision released this morning, Chief Justice Carol  W. Hunstein said the General Assembly’s passage of the 2008 law was not authorized by a state constitutional provision that says the Legislature “may provide by law for the creation of special schools.” Hunstein wrote that the phrase “special schools” was meant to apply only to schools that enrolled children with special needs or taught certain subjects. Read more »

The Georgia Supreme Court plans on Monday morning to release its much-awaited decision over the legality of state-sponsored charter schools, according to a list of cases posted on the court’s website this afternoon.

Thousands of Georgia students attend charter schools, which are nonsectarian public schools that operate without the same restrictions as other public schools. The case, argued before the court in October, generated considerable public interest and media attention. Read more »