The Nathan Deal Judicial Center in downtown Atlanta (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – A lawsuit alleging a now-deceased Catholic priest sexually abused an altar boy in the 1970s should go forward because the Archdiocese of Atlanta didn’t admit the crime until 2018, a lawyer for the unnamed plaintiff argued Tuesday.
But a lawyer representing Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church in Marietta asked the Georgia Supreme Court to uphold lower-court rulings that dismissed the suit because it was filed long after the statute of limitations had expired.
The lawsuit was brought after then-Archbishop of Atlanta Wilton Gregory issued a public apology for sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy.
“They said, ‘It’s necessary for us to come clean. There cannot be a healing process until we admit what happened,’ ” Michael Terry, the plaintiff’s lawyer, said Tuesday.
While the abuse occurred decades ago, the plaintiff had no way of knowing sexual abuse by members of the clergy was widespread, Terry said. The church didn’t fulfill its fiduciary duty to the plaintiff to tell that truth until three years ago, he said.
“If you have no reason to suspect your fiduciary has lied to you, you don’t have a duty to go behind your fiduciary and start checking,” he said.
But Edward Wasmuth Jr., the church’s lawyer, said the statute of limitations law is on the books to make sure legal claims are litigated when evidence is available and memories are fresh.
“This case involves events that took place 40 years ago with a defendant who is long dead,” he said.
For that reason, Wasmuth argued the clock on the statute of limitations began running when the abuse occurred.
“From the moment [the plaintiff] is allegedly abused, he knows something is wrong,” he said. “That starts the clock on his duty to do something.”
The case drew a “friend of the court” brief from the Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic, a legal clinic at the University of Georgia that represents survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation in civil lawsuits free of charge.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia Agriculture Commissioner and U.S. Senate candidate Gary Black’s campaign began running a radio ad statewide Tuesday highlighting his recent trip to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Black’s ad criticized Republican opponent Herschel Walker – who has been endorsed by former president Donald Trump – for what Black’s campaign called Walker’s pro-amnesty, pro-citizenship position on illegal immigration.
“Herschel Walker sides with [President Joe] Biden and [Sen. Raphael] Warnock – Herschel supports amnesty – and citizenship for illegals,” Black, also a Republican, said in the ad. “That makes America less safe. I stood on the border — and on border security — you know where I stand.”
Walker’s campaign responded by declaring Walker backed Trump’s position on the importance of securing the U.S.-Mexico border.
“America is a nation of immigrants, and Herschel strongly supports those who follow the process to legally enter this country,” said Walker campaign spokesperson Mallory Blount. “He has several dear friends who have done so. We have a humanitarian and illegal immigration crisis at our southern border that career politicians have created.
“When you have a leak, you fix it. Any conversations about immigration have to start with finally securing our southern border and Herschel will work to make that happen, unlike our current senators.”
Last week, Warnock – the Democrat Walker, Black and two other Republicans want to unseat — reported his campaign raised more than $9.5 million during third quarter of this year in a report filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Earlier this month, Walker reported raising $3.7 million during the first five weeks of his campaign. Contributions came from nearly 50,000 donors from all 50 states.
Black raised more than $1.3 million through Sept. 30, according to his third-quarter campaign finance report.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled a lower trial court erred in denying an American Civil Liberties Union motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by a former Glynn County public defender.
In the case of ACLU, Inc. v. Zeh, the court reversed the state Court of Appeal’s decision affirming the trial court’s denial of the ACLU’s motion and remanded the case to the Court of Appeals with the direction that it send it back to the trial court to rule on Zeh’s discovery motions.
Billy Reid Zeh is a controversial local attorney in Glynn County, who has seen his share of legal troubles. Back in 2019 he surrendered himself to police on charges of aggravated assault, robbery, battery and kidnapping.
Zeh has also been a local public defender, and in a 2018 blog post, the ACLU called him “Georgia’s crooked public defender.”
“As the public defender for Glynn County, Georgia, Reid Zeh is entrusted with advocating for the most vulnerable members of his community when they come up against the criminal justice system,” the ACLU blog post said. “Rather than do his job, however, Zeh routinely ignores his clients or worse — extorts them to enrich himself.”
The ACLU accused Zeh of charging a local man and his then-75-year-old mother $2,500 in legal services that should have been free.
“Zeh is paid a flat fee by Glynn County to represent people who can’t otherwise afford legal representation in their criminal cases,” the ACLU said, further alleging the woman and her son didn’t know Zeh could not legally or ethically require payment from them.
Zeh sued the ACLU for defamation. The ACLU wanted to dismiss Zeh’s lawsuit as meritless, and said Zeh could not show the blog post was published with actual malice.
But in an opinion published Monday, Georgia Supreme Chief Justice David Nahmias said the standard of actual malice does apply in this case.
“The facts set forth in the defamation case pleadings and affidavits show that Zeh was appointed to his position to provide public defense services to all misdemeanor cases in State Court, and as a matter of law, he had the responsibility for determining whether or not a defendant in a misdemeanor case was entitled to a public defender because of indigency,” Nahmias wrote. “The proper provision of constitutionally required legal representation for indigent criminal defendants in Glynn County’s misdemeanor cases is a matter in which the public has an independent interest.”
Despite his arguments that the ACLU’s blog post relied on untrustworthy allegations made against him by plaintiffs in a separate, federal case and that the ACLU should have further investigated the veracity of those allegations by checking public court records, the Supreme Court said the allegations were not published recklessly.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – More Georgia families will be getting help from the state paying for child care under an initiative Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday.
Starting Nov. 1, Georgia will expand its Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) program by 10,000 children. The program currently serves 50,000 children from indigent and low-income families.
“Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, we have made child care a top priority in Georgia for assisting first responders, essential workers, and other hardworking families who could not stop their important work or work from home during this challenging time,” Kemp said.
“CAPS is a great example of a public initiative that helps families, their children, and providers alike. This expansion will allow us to serve more Georgians.”
To make covering more children possible, the expansion will raise the program’s eligibility criteria. New guidelines will increase the entry income threshold from 50% of the State Median Income (SMI) to 85% of SMI.
Child-care providers also will receive additional help in the form of bonus payments aimed at helping more providers become Quality Rated.
The poorest Georgia families will get extra help in qualifying for the CAPS program. Those in the lowest-income category will see an income eligibility increase from 50% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) to 150% of FPL.
The expansion, funded through the American Rescue Plan Congress passed earlier this year, will run through Oct. 1, 2024.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The growing movement to turn Atlanta’s wealthiest community into its own city took on new opposition Monday.
Democratic members of the city of Atlanta’s legislative delegation will deliver a letter to Georgia House Speaker David Ralston and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, urging them to reject efforts from out-of-area lawmakers to push forward a bill that would allow Buckhead a path to cityhood.
“There is a move underway to remove Buckhead – the beautiful, wonderful neighborhood that we all enjoy – from the city of Atlanta,” said state Sen. Nan Orrock, who chairs Atlanta’s legislative delegation. “The senators who I’ve seen pushing this don’t live in Atlanta.
“We’re here to say, put on the brakes,” Orrock said. “Buckhead doesn’t need to leave Atlanta.”
State Sen. Nan Orrock speaks during a press conference by members of Atlanta’s Democratic legislative delegation. Image: Tim Darnell
A city of Buckhead would carve about 25 square miles – or about 18% of the city of Atlanta’s land area – and create Georgia’s 10th largest municipality. It would also include about 20% of the city’s population and cost the city of Atlanta more than $250 million in property, sales and lodging taxes, as well as business license revenues.
Those figures come from a KB Advisory Group analysis. Earlier this month, the joint House Study Committee on Annexation and Cityhood and the Governmental Affairs Committee heard testimony from several officials about how a city of Buckhead would impact Atlanta and the state.
“I live in Buckhead, but Atlanta is my home,” said state Rep. Betsy Holland, who chairs the city of Atlanta’s House delegation. “Carving out this part of Atlanta will have a devastating effect on my family.”
State Rep. Betsy Holland speaks during a press conference by members of Atlanta’s Democratic legislative delegation. Image: Tim Darnell
Both Holland and state Sen. Jen Jordan said they were worried about the thousands of Buckhead-based students who attend Atlanta Public Schools (APS).
“APS owns those buildings and property,” Jordan said. “Those schools don’t become the property of a city of Buckhead. What happens to those properties? Who becomes eligible to lease or sell them? APS is under no obligation to service children who don’t live in the city of Atlanta. If APS decides not to teach those kids, they fall into the jurisdiction of the Fulton County school system, and that system doesn’t have the plans, capacities, finances or staff to absorb them.”
State Sen. Jen Jordan speaks during a press conference by members of Atlanta’s Democratic legislative delegation. Image: Tim Darnell
But Bill White, CEO of the Buckhead City Committee, said APS will continue to serve Buckhead families.
“The law is silent on what happens when the city limits contract,” White said. “The law does not say that APS shall have the same boundaries as the city. No one believes APS will forfeit Buckhead and commensurate funds collected in taxes. We are confident APS will serve Buckhead City.”
“We’ve heard Buckhead wants a divorce from Atlanta,” said state Sen. Sonya Halpern. “What we need is a marriage counselor.”
Halpern acknowledged the issue of crime in the community, which is a strong reason some residents and groups are seeking their own city. She said she was at the Peachtree Battle shopping center back in September when a deadly shooting broke out in the parking lot.
“I urge the people who are leading this cityhood movement to put their time and efforts and financial resources to work with this upcoming new mayor, this new city council and with us to solve these problems,” she said. “The answer is not leaving the city. Increasing the police presence and fixing our sidewalks and potholes and streets won’t happen if Buckhead leaves Atlanta.”
“A new mayor will solve nothing,” White said. “The city of Atlanta is poorly managed, unresponsive, and incapable of addressing the concerns of Buckhead. A new mayor is no solution.”
White also said a Buckhead City will not financially devastate Atlanta. “Buckhead City would keep less than 10 percent of the city of Atlanta’s annual budget, while reducing Atlanta’s population obligations by 20 percent,” he said.
Orrock cited opposition from the Georgia Municipal Association to a Buckhead de-annexation.
“This is the worst thing we can do for Atlanta but also for Buckhead and Georgia,” she said. “Carving up a capital city will increase political, social and civil disorder.”
Orrock also said she doesn’t foresee a strict, party-line vote on the issue.
“You will have to search far and wide for a Buckhead business that supports cityhood,” she said. “The business community has said loudly, ‘Do not move forward on this.’
“You start down this track, where does it end? Will Savannah want to split up? What about Athens? How are you going to split that up?”
“Though there remains much work to do by those intent on making Buckhead City a reality, it’s time for the Georgia General Assembly – perhaps in the recently called special session – to allow Buckhead residents to vote on the matter in a fair election by adding the issue to the November 2022 ballot,” White said.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
