County to Pursue Appeal of Superior Court Decision

On July 6, Chief Judge Tonny Beavers of the Paulding Superior Court ruled against the Board of Commissioners and .

Beavers had already ruled that the county used counterclaims in order to add to legal fees and court costs for the Morrisons in an effort to deter two lawsuits brought against the county. According to Beavers, that was a violation of Georgia's anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) law.

The action on July 6 was simply to decide on what costs, if any, should be awarded to the Morrisons.

The Board of Commissioners did not agree with Beavers’ decision, and their attorney filed a motion asking for approval of a Certificate of Immediate Review, a step needed to move the case onto the Georgia Court of Appeals.

Keith Wiener, who is with Holland and Knight LLP, the firm representing the county, argued in the Notice of Appeal filed on July 15 that the decision by Beavers on July 6 was erroneous as a matter of law.

Wiener also argued that the court committed an error when allowing payment of attorney fees for every minute of every hour that the Morrisons’ attorney spent on litigation of the two lawsuits, beginning in 2006.

Another point made by Wiener was that the Morrisons’ right to continue the lawsuits was not "chilled" due to the continuation of the litigation over a five-year period. This was in reference to the anti-SLAPP violation found by Beavers.

Beavers noted in his July 6 decision that the county did not offer testimony to contradict testimony of the Morrison's attorney regarding the number of hours billed for time spent as a result of the counterclaims filed by the county.

Glen Stinson, representing the Morrisons, requested that Beavers not issue an order for a Certificate of Immediate Review.

Stinson argued that this was not the type of order nor was it the type of relief for which a Certificate of Immediate Review should be granted by the court.

In addition, Stinson referred to the same objections voiced by the Morrisons in a prior motion.

Beavers signed a Certificate of Immediate Review on July 18 to allow the application for appeal to proceed to the Court of Appeals. In that decision, Beavers noted that the "Court certifies that the order and award are of such importance that immediate review should be had."

According to County Attorney Jayson Phillips, the application for appeal is being worked on by the firm representing the county and will be forwarded to the Court of Appeals within the required time frame.

Stinson will then have a designated time to respond to the application for appeal filed by the county.

The Court of Appeals will then grant, deny or dismiss the application for appeal within 45 days of the filing date.

Should the Court of Appeals decide to review the decision by Beavers, they will limit the review to the issue of whether Beaver's decision was correct on granting court costs, including attorney fees, and his decision that the county violated the anti-SLAPP law. 

The request for appeal will effectively stay any payments due the Morrisons based on Beavers’ order, pending the outcome of the appeal.

Stinson submitted a motion for a supersedeas bond to Superior Court, asking that the bond be issued to guarantee that payment would be made for attorney and court costs approved by Beavers should the appeal not be successful.

Any additional costs to the Morrisons for the appeal could also be added to the previous amount approved, should any appeal not successful.

The motion by Stinson has not yet been approved by the court.

Two lawsuits filed by the Morrisons five years ago regarding rezoning issues will not be included if the appeal is granted by the Court of Appeals.

Those two cases continue to be open in Paulding Superior Court, with no decisions on the merits of the two cases.

All documents relating to this litigation may be reviewed in the office of the .