Court of Appeals holds oral arguments in Habersham

     The Court of Appeals of Georgia continues its mission of community outreach this spring with an off-site oral argument session in Habersham County at Tallulah Falls School on Tuesday, March 28 at 10 a.m.
     The Court is committed to increasing confidence in the judiciary by making its judges more accessible to the public by holding court at different venues around the state.
    The arguments at Tallulah Falls School will be heard by Chief Judge Brian Rickman, Presiding Judge Stephen Louis A. Dillard, and Judge Trea Pipkin.
     The court has provided the briefs to the school ahead of time, and the judges will hold a question-and-answer session for the students following the arguments.
    In the first appeal, the judges will consider whether a class of people can sue for damages because their vehicles were “booted” in a parking lot and they had to pay money before they could drive away.
    In the second appeal, the judges will consider whether a lawyer can represent two physicians in the same practice, both of whom cared for the same patient but only one of whom was sued.
    “The Court of Appeals is thrilled to hold oral arguments at Tallulah Falls School and give the students a chance to see our judges in action without traveling to Atlanta,” said Chief Judge Rickman.          
      Rickman served as District Attorney for the Mountain Judicial Circuit, which includes Habersham, Stephens and Rabun counties, before coming to the Court of Appeals.
    “We are grateful to President Larry Peevy and the rest of Tallulah Falls School’s outstanding administration and staff for being such gracious hosts,” said Rickman.
     The school will reserve seating for local attorneys, who are invited and encouraged to attend the session.
    After a hiatus of several years due to the pandemic, last fall the court resumed its off-site oral arguments and held court in Macon, Athens, and Valdosta.
     It traveled to Coffee County in February and will go to Columbus for its next off-site argument in April.
    The Court of Appeals is Georgia’s intermediate appellate court, with fifteen judges who serve in panels of three.
    Oral arguments are not heard in all cases.
    The parties must ask to be heard, and the court grants only about a third of the requests.