The Thirteenth Court of Appeals conditionally granted mandamus compelling appraisal in a homeowner’s insurance dispute, holding that Germania’s outright claim denial did not preclude appraisal and that the policyholder failed to establish waiver or prejudice from any delay in demanding the process.
The Fourth Department dismissed a district attorney’s Article 78 petition seeking to overturn a court order barring re-presentment to a grand jury and denying unsealing under CPL 160.50(1), holding that unsealing applications are civil in nature and cannot be challenged via Article 78.
The Court of Appeals of Georgia dismissed a criminal appeal under the new OCGA section 5-6-39.1, holding that the defendant’s motion for an out-of-time appeal was filed beyond the statute’s 100-day deadline and did not fall within the Cook v. State savings clause.
The DC Court of Appeals affirmed Bryant Phillips’s convictions for sexual abuse, kidnapping, and assault but remanded for resentencing, holding that the trial court failed to conduct the mandatory statutory inquiry under D.C. Code § 23-111(b) before imposing a life-without-parole sentence as a repeat violent offender.
The Arkansas Supreme Court amends Rules 3(f), 4(a), and 6(b) of the appellate rules to eliminate the signed-receipt service requirement for notices of appeal and tie cross-appeal and record-designation deadlines to filing rather than receipt.
The Eighth District reversed a jail-time credit calculation where the trial court awarded credit for days the defendant had already received credit for in a separate, unrelated case, and remanded for factual findings supporting the recalculated credit.
The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed a finding of civil contempt against a mother who repeatedly refused to follow court-ordered custody exchange locations, and issued a pointed warning about the use of AI-generated fictitious case citations in appellate briefs.
The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed Joshua Rymer’s convictions for aggravated assault and criminal trespass, holding that his claimed belief that he was being pursued did not justify forcibly entering a home with a knife and did not warrant jury charges on mistake of fact or coercion.
The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed a $159,427 anti-SLAPP attorney fee award against a pro se attorney-plaintiff, holding that the FDCPA does not preempt Georgia’s anti-SLAPP fee-shifting provision and that self-represented attorneys may recover fees under the statute.
The Georgia Court of Appeals partially reversed a hearing officer’s decision in a COAM industry dispute, holding that a party who unconditionally promises to grant use of property it does not own is liable for breach of contract under long-settled Georgia law.