21 results for 'judge:"Fuller"'.
J. Fuller finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of armed robbery, battery and firearm offenses. Sufficient evidence was presented to support defendant's armed robbery conviction and to allow the jury to find that defendant had a gun while attacking the victim. Although the victim said no gun was used during the incident, an eyewitness told police that defendant was holding a gun while hitting the victim and taking his two phones. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: A23A1575, Categories: Firearms, Robbery
J. Fuller finds that the trial court properly ruled in favor of the brokerage firm and two agents in a fraud and negligence action brought by the houseboat buyer after the boat began to leak. The buyer sought revocation and rescission of the purchase agreement. The contract specifically stated that no representations were made by the firm other than those in the agreement and included a disclaimer disavowing all warranties. The buyer therefore could not have justifiably relied on the firm's oral representations about the boat. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: March 1, 2024, Case #: A23A1551, Categories: Fraud, Contract
J. Fuller finds that the trial court improperly refused to find partially in favor of the executor in a declaratory judgment action on the issue of the niece's standing to contest the validity of a will. The trial court incorrectly found that all family members have standing to caveat a will. The niece withdrew any challenge to the will and deprived herself of standing to file a caveat. Reversed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: A23A1491, Categories: Wills / Probate
J. Fuller finds that the juvenile court properly granted physical custody of the couple's three children to the father but incorrectly ordered the mother to pay $800 in monthly child support. The juvenile court failed to consider the father's supplemental self-employment income in the child support calculation. The mother agreed not to have the children's interviews recorded and cannot show from the record that the custody ruling was erroneous. Reversed in part.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: February 21, 2024, Case #: A24A0371, Categories: Family Law
J. Fuller finds that the trial court properly granted the shop owner's motion to dismiss the reviewer's libel action under Georgia's anti-SLAPP law. The action arose when the owner published a response to the reviewer's negative Google reviews, calling him a neo-Nazi who was targeting her business, harassing her and threatening to kill other shop members. The trial court correctly found that the owner's statements were protected speech. The owner's comments were made in response to review bombing initiated by the reviewer on a public forum and the reviewer conceded that he is a public figure. There is no evidence that the owner knew her statement about the supposed death threat was false or likely false. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: A23A1234, Categories: Anti-slapp, Defamation
Want access to unlimited case records and advanced research tools? Create your free CasePortal account now. No credit card required to register.
Try CasePortal for Free
J. Fuller finds that the trial court properly denied defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault. Defendant's convictions did not merge because there was no evidence that the two gunshots fired by defendant occurred in quick succession as part of a single act. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: January 30, 2024, Case #: A23A1699, Categories: Plea, Manslaughter
J. Fuller finds that the trial court improperly ruled in favor of the driver and the insurer on the wife's claim for loss of consortium arising after her husband was injured in a car collision. The husband's earlier action and renewal action against the driver and insurer were dismissed. The wife's claim in the separate action was an independent claim which was not barred by the dismissal of the husband's action. Reversed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: December 28, 2023, Case #: A23A1465, Categories: Negligence
J. Fuller finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of rape, aggravated assault and false imprisonment. Defendant was acquitted of other rape and aggravated assault charges. The verdicts against him were not repugnant. A prosecutor's reference to defendant's past conviction for aggravated assault and propensity to commit crimes was improper but probably did not impact the trial outcome. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: December 22, 2023, Case #: A23A1751, Categories: Sex Offender, Assault
J. Fuller finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of aggravated assault and correctly denied defendant's motion to suppress surveillance video evidence showing defendant beating the victim. The seizure of recording equipment from the bar where the assault occurred was lawful. Sheriff's deputies reasonably believed the bar manager had authority to provide the recording equipment based on her job responsibilities. Although the trial court incorrectly blocked defendant from questioning the victim about her prior false allegations due to lack of notice to the state, the error probably did not affect the trial outcome in light of the surveillance video evidence. Defendant failed to show that he was prejudiced by his trial counsel's allegedly deficient performance. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: December 1, 2023, Case #: A23A1336, Categories: Evidence, Ineffective Assistance, Assault
J. Fuller finds that the trial court properly revoked defendant's probation and sentenced him to 18 months in prison for his admitted probation violations. Defendant's 44-day detention before his first appearance hearing did not warrant dismissal of the revocation petition. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: November 17, 2023, Case #: A23A1440, Categories: Probation
J. Fuller finds that the trial court improperly refused to rule in favor of the foundation and the lessor in a premises liability and negligence action brought by a mother arising from her son's shooting death on a university campus. The lessor is an out-of-possession landlord and cannot be held liable for the son's death while visiting friends at student housing. Clauses in the lease requiring the lessor to provide utilities and make repairs do not establish a degree of possession or control that would subject the lessor to liability. Reversed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: November 17, 2023, Case #: A23A1199, Categories: Negligence, Premises Liability
J. Fuller finds that the trial court properly ruled in favor of the lender in a declaratory and injunctive relief action brought by the homeowners to cancel a security deed and block a foreclosure sale. The trial court correctly found that foreclosure is not barred by the doctrine of laches and that the security deed is subject to the reversionary statute rather than a statute of limitation. Acceleration of the homeowners' underlying mortgage debt does not affect the statutory reversionary period. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: November 16, 2023, Case #: A23A1279, Categories: Banking / Lending
J. Fuller finds that the trial court properly ruled in favor of the estate administrator in a declaratory judgment action against the executor arising from a dispute over the meaning of a property ownership provision in the father's will. The trial court correctly found that language in the provision referring to "joint ownership" of the property does not support an inference that the father's bequest created a joint tenancy between the now-deceased son and the executor. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: November 15, 2023, Case #: A23A1222, Categories: Wills / Probate
J. Fuller finds that the trial court improperly ruled in favor of the company with respect to the property owner's negligence and design defects claims in an action arising after he developed cancer allegedly due to wood dust discharged onto his property from the company's paper mill and wood chipper. The trial court should have applied Virginia law in weighing whether the property owner's claims were barred by the doctrine of res judicata based on his prior participation in a federal class action. The property owner's design defects and negligence claims fall under the category of personal injury claims that qualify for an exception to the application of res judicata. However, the trial court correctly found that the property owner's breach of contract, fraud and conspiracy claims are barred by res judicata. Reversed in part.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: November 13, 2023, Case #: A23A1236, Categories: Negligence
[Consolidated.] J. Fuller finds that the trial court properly granted the decedent's brother's request for a temporary injunction and correctly ruled in favor of the brother in an action against the individual to set aside a property conveyance. The decedent died two days after the individual used her power of attorney to deed the decedent's home to herself. The trial court correctly found that the conveyance was an impermissible gift. A portion of the individual's appeal challenging the temporary injunction as it pertains to the real property is dismissed because the ruling setting aside the quitclaim deed mooted the temporary injunction. Affirmed in part.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: November 9, 2023, Case #: A23A1259, Categories: Property
J. Fuller finds the trial court improperly granted summary judgment to the hospital in the victim's lawsuit seeking to hold the hospital liable for her rape by three men while she was on a ventilator in the hospital's intensive care unit. The district court incorrectly ruled the victim's rape was not reasonably foreseeable as a matter of law, as whether or not it was foreseeable needs to be handled by a fact-finder and a jury could conclude that five prior incidents of reported sexual misconduct against hospital patients, which the district court dismissed as "not substantially similar" to the victim's case, could create a reason for the hospital to anticipate such a rape could happen and thus make it liable. Reversed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: October 2, 2023, Case #: A23A1051, Categories: Tort, Premises Liability
J. Fuller finds the trial court properly dismissed the parents' medical malpractice and wrongful death lawsuit against the health care system and doctors over their daughter's death two weeks after receiving care at the system's facilities for two days. In part given the timing of the filing of the parents' complaint, underlying statutes of limitation and filing deadlines, and the brief suspension of such deadlines during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the trial court correctly determined the parents had not satisfied a Georgia-law requirement that they timely file an expert affidavit with their complaint, mandating dismissal. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: October 2, 2023, Case #: A23A0631, Categories: Civil Procedure, Wrongful Death, Medical Malpractice
J. Fuller finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of aggravated sodomy, attempted rape, sexual battery, burglary and aggravated assault by strangulation. Defendant's trial counsel was not deficient for failing to object to the prosecutor's comments in closing argument urging the jury to find that the victim was credible. Defendant was also not prejudiced by his trial counsel's performance in light of the overwhelming evidence of his guilt. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: September 26, 2023, Case #: A23A1113, Categories: Burglary, Ineffective Assistance, Sex Offender
J. Fuller finds that the trial court properly ruled in favor of the park authority in a premises liability and negligence action brought by an individual arising from injuries she suffered on a water slide. The individual has not shown that the park authority acted negligently by failing to enforce or warn her about the slide's weight restriction or that the alleged failure caused her foot, knee and hip injuries. There is also no evidence that the park authority had any knowledge that the water depth in the slide exit pool may have been unsafe at the time of the incident. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: September 20, 2023, Case #: A23A1023, Categories: Negligence, Premises Liability
J. Fuller finds that the trial court properly dismissed defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty pleas to rape, aggravated assault and cruelty to children. The trial court lacked jurisdiction to grant the motion because it was filed outside the term of court in which defendant's sentence was entered. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: September 20, 2023, Case #: A23A1158, Categories: Sex Offender, Assault, Plea
J. Fuller finds that the trial court improperly denied defendant's motion to modify his four-year probation sentence following his guilty plea to committing terroristic threats and acts. As a condition of defendant's probation, the trial court imposed a permanent restraining order barring defendant from contacting the victim, her home, her family's homes and her place of work. The restraining order is void because it exceeds the term of defendant's sentence. Vacated.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Fuller, Filed On: August 24, 2023, Case #: A23A0706, Categories: Probation, Restraining Order