Things worth writing down.
Most of what I publish here starts the same way — I go read the actual statute or the actual opinion for a case I am working on, and find that what everybody says it says is not quite what it says.
Georgia Fixed the Warning. It Never Fixed the Statute.
Two of the four refusals listed in O.C.G.A. § 40-6-392 (d) are now unconstitutional. The statute has not been amended since 2011 — and the implied consent notice an officer reads to a Georgia driver tonight is still four years behind the case law.
Read it →The Hole in Georgia's Marijuana-Odor Rule
Everyone cites Gowen for something it never decided. Five years on, whether the smell of marijuana alone still justifies searching a car — when the driver can prove he had legal, smokable hemp — is an open question in Georgia. One defendant already walked right up to it.
Read it →Can You Believe This? Georgia's "Tort Claims Act" Is a List of Ways the State Can't Be Sued
Your neighbor is liable for false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. O.C.G.A. § 50-21-24 (7) writes the state out of that exact list — then adds twelve more exceptions, a one-year notice window, a confidential case file, and a damages cap the jury is forbidden to hear about.
Read it →Georgia's Official "Rules for Thee, Not for Me" Law
O.C.G.A. § 1-3-8 sits in the very first title of the Georgia Code and says the state is not bound by a law unless the law names it. Try that argument yourself and see how far it gets you.
Read it →The first conversation is free. It's also the most important one.