April 2022 - The Georgia Courts Journal

Greetings Courts Journal readers:

For the first time in over two years, an in-person Judicial Council meeting was held on April 22nd at the Nathan Deal Judicial Center. It was the last Judicial Council General Session for Chief Justice Nahmias. During his remarks at the close of that meeting, Justice Peterson noted that Chief Justice Nahmias served as Chair or Vice Chair for 50 Judicial Council meetings–a record number because of the pandemic. It was also the first time many of the Judicial Council members were able to tour the NDJC since COVID-19 took hold in March 2020. The meeting was live streamed and archived, and included reports from the ARPA Funding, Budget, Legislation, Judicial Workload Assessment, and Technology Committees, as well as the Judicial COVID-19 Task Force. The Chief Justice was also honored this month by Georgia CASA for his service in improving justice for children, and his remarks in receiving the award were moving, especially when he noted his own time as a CASA volunteer while in law school. We learned that the Georgia State-wide Business Court hosted its first-ever trial in the Judicial Conference Room of the NDJC just days before that room was the venue for the Judicial Council meeting and Judge Walter Davis expressed enormous gratitude for the efforts of many who worked hard to ensure that the Court’s first trial proceeded smoothly. Judge Davis was also part of a panel discussion hosted by the Georgia Hispanic Bar Association and Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce about the operations of the State-wide Business Court on April 28th.

Chief Justice David E. Nahmias at the April 2022 CASA on the Catwalk! event.

Georgia’s legislative session ended on April 4, 2022 and we are pleased to report that the Judicial Council’s legislative objective passed. HB 916, the Superior and State Court Appellate Practice Act, is important legislation modernizing Georgia’s antiquated appellate process from a lower judicatory to a superior or state court. This bill was many years in the making. Another closely watched bill was House Speaker Ralston’s HB 1013–the Georgia Mental Health Parity Act– which passed unanimously. We are grateful to Presiding Justice Boggs for his work on Georgia’s Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission which helped make that legislation a reality. We also want to raise awareness of NCSC’s Recognition of and Response to Youth Mental Health Crisis whose Task Force released recommendations. We were so grateful to receive the report from Bryan County State Court Judge Billy Tomlinson that everyone remained safe in the courthouse vault during a tornado on April 6th. Judge Tomlinson updated us on the repair and rebuilding efforts. He also said that the county and municipalities in his community have been helpful in finding alternative locations to hold court. Hopefully, all classes of court will restart by mid-May. Plenty of lessons learned from that incident will help the Ad Hoc Emergency Preparedness Committee co-chaired by Judge Trea Pipkin of the Court of Appeals and Judge Amanda Petty of the Superior Court for the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit. We invite you to read this wonderful article about Judge Jeffrey S. Malcom of the Northern Judicial Circuit and his son, Ryan Malcom.