Court Filings

The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the superior court and City of Tucker in denying Cox Store Management’s application for a license to operate coin-operated amusement machines (COAMs) at its Idlewood convenience store. The City’s 2022 COAM ordinance bars COAMs within the distance limits that apply to alcohol sales; the store is 80.2 yards from a nearby church. The court held that the enabling statute allows municipalities to impose distance restrictions for COAMs no more restrictive than those for alcohol sales, and that the ordinance’s application to Cox was therefore lawful regardless of the types of alcoholic beverages Cox sells.

The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the juvenile court's order discontinuing reunification services and approving a permanency plan of adoption for two minor children after finding the parents subjected the younger child, A. A., to chronic physical abuse. Medical evidence showed A. A. suffered twelve fractures in various healing stages; a child-abuse pediatrician concluded the injuries resulted from repeated adult-inflicted pulling and twisting. The parents invoked their Fifth Amendment privilege at the nonreunification hearing, and the court drew adverse inferences from that refusal. The appellate court held that the evidence met the clear-and-convincing standard for nonreunification and aggravated circumstances.

The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to Real Dream Investors, LLC in a dispute over redemption of a tax deed purchased by Monarch Holdings Group, LLC. Monarch bought the property at a tax sale and published a barment notice giving April 16, 2022 as the redemption deadline; the Court held that state time-computation rules extended that deadline to Monday, April 18, 2022. Real Dream timely tendered a cashier’s check and deed on April 18 by attempted personal delivery and overnight mailing after Monarch could not accept delivery, and Monarch’s rejection waived any further tender, extinguishing its tax deed.

The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the superior court’s decision upholding the Georgia Public Service Commission’s approval allowing Sandersville Railroad Company to condemn privately owned land to build a new spur. The Court found substantial evidence supporting the PSC’s factual findings that the spur would function as a channel of trade and aid the railroad’s operations, which qualifies as a statutory “public use.” The Court also rejected landowners’ complaints about subpoena enforcement and attorney-fee claims, and it upheld the superior court’s discretionary stay of condemnation proceedings pending appeal.