July 15, 2010

Happy Birthday!

 The Finley Firm celebrated our 3rd birthday June 1, 2010!
 

Congratulations Chris!

The Finely Firm is proud to announce that Christopher R. Reeves was voted the 2010-2011 Secretary for the Environmental and Toxic Torts Section of the Atlanta Bar Association. Please join us in congratulating him! CReeves@TheFinleyFirm.com

New Associate-Beth Howard

The Finley Firm is proud to announce the newest associate to the firm, Beth Howard.  Beth's practice focuses on workers' compensation and general litigation.  She is licensed to practice in Georgia and Alabama.  To read more about Beth, please visit our website at www.TheFinleyFirm.com/Beth_Howard. 

The Finley Firm's 2nd Annual Service Day

On July 8, 2010, The Finley Firm volunteered at the Atlanta Community Food Bank. The employees were trained to sorted, packaged, weighed and moved boxes of food, condiments and other non-perishable items. The group helped package in excess of,11,356 pounds, which is equivalent to 7,570 meals for the needy. The Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB) was established in 1979. ACFB distributes donated food and other non-perishable items to food pantries, community kitchens, childcare centers, night shelters and senior centers in Metro Atlanta and North Georgia. For more information on the ACFB, please visit http://www.acfb.org.
 

Events

July 1, 2010 - Chris Reeves taught a CLE, “The Top 10 Growth Areas of Environmental Law for 2010-2011.” Copies of this presentation and materials are available.

July 8, 2010 - The Finley Firm's 2nd Annual Service Day at the Atlanta Food Bank.

July 20, 2010 - Primary Election.  Don't forget to vote!  If you don't know where you should go to vote, please see the Secretary of State of Georgia's website or click on the provided link.  http://www.sos.georgia.gov/MVP/Login.aspx

July 30-31, 2010 - The Environmental Section of the Georgia Bar will host its conference on July 30-31, where Chris Reeves will be in attendance.

August 29-September 1, 2010 - Georgia State Board Workers' Compensation Conference.

Fall 2010 - The American Bar Association has recently asked Chris Reeves to publish an article on the current state of climate change litigation in the United States. This article will focus on insurance, tort, and regulatory changes impacting litigation in the field and is slated for publication in late Fall 2010.

October 14, 2010 - The Finley Firm's Fall Seminar.  More information to come in August.  Please check our website at www.TheFinleyFirm.com/news for updates.

October 20-22, 2010 - DRI Annual Conference in San Diego, CA.

December 16, 2010 - NBI Seminar: The Mechanics of Georgia Civil Procedure.  Ben Finley will be speaking in Columbus, Georgia on the Non-Complaint Claims and Third Party Practice and The Purpose, Procedure and Strategy of Discovery.  More details to come!

Seminars

As a value-added service to our clients, we provide free in-house CE courses.  Is If you are interested in having our attorneys come to your office for a lunch-n-learn, morning meeting or afternoon meeting, please contact Vanessa Williams at 404.320.9979 or VWilliams@TheFinleyFirm.com.

Smith v. Baptiste

210 WL 889557 (Ga. 2010)

Facts
Baptiste filed a complaint for damages against Smith based on allegedly defamatory statements. Smith offered to settle the case for $5,000 and Baptiste rejected the offer by not responding. The trial court subsequently granted Smith’s summary judgment as to all counts of the complaint. Accordingly, Smith moved for attorney’s fees pursuant to OCGA §9-11-68(b)(1). The trial court denied Smith’s motion on the grounds that OCGA §9-11-68 violated the Georgia Constitution.

Issue
(1) Does OCGA §9-11-68 impede access to the courts and thus violate Art. I, Sec. I, Par. XII of the Georgia Constitution, which provides that “no person shall be deprived of the right to prosecute or defend, either in person or by an attorney, that person’s own cause in any of courts of this state?”

(2) Is OCGA §9-11-68 a special law that violates the uniformity clause of the Georgia Constitution because it applies only to tort claims, not all civil cases?

OCGA §9-11-68, in pertinent part provides:

If a defendant makes an offer of settlement which is rejected by the plaintiff, the defendant shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses of litigation incurred by the defendant or on the defendant’s behalf from the date of the rejection of the offer of settlement through the entry of judgment if the final judgment obtained by the plaintiff is less than 75 percent of such offer of settlement.

Holding
(1) No. The Supreme Court of Georgia found that OCGA §9-11-68 did not violate Art. I, Sec. I, Par. XII of the Georgia Constitution, because there is no express right of access to the courts’ under the Georgia Constitution. The court explicitly found that Art. I, Sec. I, Par. XII “never intended to provide a right of access to the courts, but was intended to provide only a right of choice between self-representation and representation by counsel.”

The Court relies on “A Stenographic Report of the Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention Held in Atlanta, Georgia, 1877,” reported by Samuel W. Small to find that the adoption of Art I, Sec. I, Par. XII was to ensure a person’s right of self-representation. The majority opinion defends the use of the report by citing other cases in which the report has been relied upon and invoking the doctrine of stare decisis. It finds that the report is an official record and a legitimate and reliable record of the Constitutional Convention.

Moreover, the Court also finds that even if a ‘right of access to the courts’ provision existed, it would not be applicable in this case because OCGA §9-11-68 does not deny litigants access to the courts, but simply “sets forth certain circumstances under which attorney’s fees may be recoverable.”

(2) No. The Court found that OCGA §9-11-68 does not violate the uniformity clause of the Georgia Constitution. The Georgia Constitution only requires a law to have uniform operation; meaning it shall apply to all persons, matters, or things which it is intended to affect. Uniformity does not mean universality and thus, a law which operates uniformly upon all persons of a designated class (which is not arbitrarily or unreasonably classified) is a general law. OCGA §9-11-68 is not a special law only affecting a limited activity in a specific industry during a limited time frame. Rather, it is a general law which operates uniformly throughout the State to all tort cases. OCGA §9-11-68 has a legitimate purpose in encouraging litigants in tort cases to make and accept good faith settlement proposals to avoid unnecessary litigation. Accordingly, it does not violate the uniformity clause of the Georgia Constitution.

If you have any questions regarding the opinion or have a case that you would like for us to help you evaluate, please contact J. Benjamin Finley at 404-320-9979. We are always happy to help.