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David Allen O'Neal v. Crawford County, Georgia
Paid petition · Court of Appeals of Georgia, No. A21D0123 · judgment December 21, 2020
Before the decision, roughly the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition and counsel who has filed here before.
Questions presented
Under the Georgia Supreme Court Ruling in Lue v. Eady, 297 Ga. 321, 773 S.E. 2d 679 (GA 2015), a suit filed against a county employee in his official capacity is, in essence a claim against the county. Enforcement against an attorney for attorney fees requires personal jurisdiction. Under Williams v. Williams, 340 Ga. App 740, 798 S.E. 2d. 323 (Ga. App 2017), “a void judgment is one that has a defect apparent on its face.” A bankruptcy court can release a third-party debt, even though jurisdictions are split. For example, the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in the case In re Seaside Engineering, 780 F.3d 1070 (11th Cir. 2015), affirmed a Chapter 11 plan containing non-consensual third-party releases over the objection of the debtor's equity holder. The questions presented are:
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Without personal jurisdiction over the attorney, where the judgment against the County paid attorney is really a judgment against the County, isn’t such a debt unenforceable?
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Can a bankruptcy court invalidate a third-party debt?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Bonnie Michelle Smith
Michelle Smith Attorney at Law
For respondent
Daniel Lewis Wilder
Law Office of Emmett L. Goodman, Jr. LLC
Case
Subject area
Economic Activity (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Linked docket
21A409
Orders
Order list, May 23, 2022 · Certiorari denied
Order list, August 1, 2022 · Rehearing denied
Proceedings
- Aug 01 2022Rehearing DENIED.
- Jul 07 2022DISTRIBUTED.
- Jun 17 2022Petition for Rehearing filed.
- May 23 2022Petition DENIED.
- May 03 2022DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/19/2022.
- Apr 25 2022Reply of petitioner David Allen O’Neal filed.
- Apr 13 2022Brief of respondent Crawford County, GA in opposition filed.
- Mar 16 2022Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 22, 2022)
- Feb 09 2022Application (21A409) granted by Justice Thomas extending the time to file until March 18, 2022.
- Jan 14 2022Application (21A409) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from January 17, 2022 to March 18, 2022, submitted to Justice Thomas.