Last week, Judge Marc Treadwell, United States District Court Judge for the Middle District of Georgia, held several officers of the Georgia Department of Corrections in contempt of court for failing to correct numerous violations of the Federal and Constitutional rights of Georgia inmates who are housed in solitary…
Articles Posted in Government Immunity
Georgia Supreme Court Rebukes Georgia Attorney General’s Office for Lack of Integrity, Honesty and Professionalism
In what can only be described as a jaw-dropping, scorching opinion, issued on December 20, 2023, the Georgia Supreme Court soundly rebuked the Georgia Attorney General’s Office for lack of integrity in negotiations with the Federal Defender Program regarding when the AG’s office would resume executions of death-sentenced inmates. In…
Calling 911? Not So Fast!
Should a caller EVER be placed on hold when calling 911? Common sense tells us of course not, right? By the very nature of the call, that you are calling 911, you have an emergency that needs to be addressed, well, emergently. Unfortunately, many 911 calls in Metro Atlanta are…
Bedrails for College Dorm Residents Should Be Standard in All Dorm Rooms
I have been enjoying seeing posts on social media of families taking their college-aged kids to their colleges and universities and helping them move in to their dorm rooms. This is a rite-of-passage for many young people as they begin their college careers and are perhaps living away from their…
Joshua’s Law and Other New Georgia Laws Go Into Effect on July 1, 2021
July 1 always welcomes in the new laws passed by the Legislature in the last Legislative session. Tomorrow Georgia will have several new laws that go into effect, many of which you may not be aware. The first you should know about is “Joshua’s Law,” codified at O.C.G.A. § 40-5-10. …
A Loch Ness Monster Spotting: Qualified Immunity Denied to Texas Correctional Officers
I was checking the newly released opinions from the United States Supreme Court and Taylor v. Riojas (11/2/2020) caught my eye. I’m not sure why. I must have seen “qualified immunity” somewhere in the summary. Taylor v. Riojas was one of the bunch of qualified immunity cases coming up at the…
See You In Court
Friends: I am happy to share with you that I have recently begun co-hosting a podcast called “See You In Court.” “See You In Court” is a podcast sponsored by the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, on which I sit as a Board Member. My co-host is Lester Tate, partner…
What Are “Excessive Force” Cases and Why Are They So Difficult?
This has been some week. Our Georgia Community was in the grips of disbelief and shock due to the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Glenn County, Georgia, hoping and praying that things could not get worse…and then they did. The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis has electrified the Nation…
The Harsh Reality of Sovereign Immunity of Georgia Counties
There have been some stories on the news lately about a student who was burned during a chemistry experiment performed during class. Back in August of last year, a teacher in a DeKalb County School performed a demonstration of lighting a dollar bill on fire using ethanol and water. She…
The Alarming, Inexcusable State of Mental Health Care in State Prisons
As I write this, many of the headlines in the news are about the so-called “shocking” suicide of alleged child sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein, who, allegedly, hanged himself while incarcerated in a Federal New York prison. What is so shocking? The only thing shocking to me about this event is…