Georgia Court of Appeals -- April 12 decisions

The Georgia Court of Appeals handed down six cases yesterday -- two civil and four criminal.

The first of the civil cases, Johnson v. Georgia Pacific, was resolved when the Georgia Supreme Court handed down Daimler Chrysler v. Ferrante, which found OCGA 51-14-1 et seq., the asbestos and silica claims statute, unconstitutional as applied to cases accruing prior to the statute's effective date of April 12, 2005. 2007 WL 1087396.

The second case, Halligan v. Brown, a personal injury (car accident) case, affirms the trial court's determination that the defendant driver's unexpectedly passing out while driving was an "act of God" that precludes liability in spite of his running a red light (and thus being negligent per se) as a result of passing out. 2007 WL 1087415.

Two of the criminal cases (Lawton and Jones) were affirmed over claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, and one (Boileau) was affirmed over a claim of insufficient evidence as well as a challenge to admission of similar transaction evidence. However, one of the criminal cases, Mann v. State, 2007 WL 1087410, was reversed: the trial court erred in admitting evidence of cocaine use based on Roche OnTrack TesTstik, without a showing the test had the requisite accuracy to be admitted without expert testimony. The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's revocation of the defendant's remaining 14 years of probation on the basis of that evidence.