Justice Nahmias then takes this "interesting, but largely irrelevant" debate one step further, comparing Mr. Small's report is not the "official" record, but that it is a reliable record of the proceedings - and that is the more important point for the task at hand." ![]() Justice Nahmias, in his concurring opinion, called this "extensive debate" between the majority and the dissent "interesting, but largely irrelevant." He wrote: "If I had to decide the issue, I would say that Mr. The dissent, however, claimed that this resolution was merely a "gesture of appreciation made by the convention members to the reporters covering their efforts," rather than an acknowledgement of the accuracy of Mr. Small "for the very able, faithful and impartial manner in which he as reported the proceedings of this Convention." ![]() Small's report and noting that the Constitutional Convention had passed a resolution thanking Mr. Small's report, noting the number of times past court decisions had quoted Mr. In response, the majority devoted nearly half of its opinion in a defense of the accuracy of Mr. Small's 1877 stenographic account of the proceedings. Indeed the bulk of the dissent focused on the reliability and accuracy of Mr. Small's report was not reliable and was not an "official" account of the proceedings at the Constitutional Convention. The dissent, authored by Justice Carol Hunstein with Justice Benham joining, argued that Mr. Small's report purported to demonstrate, through an exchange between the delegates at the 1877 Constitutional Convention, that the Paragraph XII was intended to preserve a right of self-representation, rather than a blanket right of access to the courts. Small, a reporter for the Atlanta Constitution (a predecessor to the current Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper). XII guaranteed Georgian's "a right of choice between self-representation and representation by counsel" and not "a right of access to the courts." The majority cited several prior decisions to this effect, along with a passage from "A Stenographic Report of the Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention Held in Atlanta, Georgia, 1877" as reported by Samuel W. The key to the majority's decision was a finding that Art. What is remarkable is the means by which the majority reached its decision. The Georgia Supreme Court, in a 5-2 ruling, reversed the trial court and upheld the statute. XII that "o person shall be deprived of the right to prosecute or defend, either in person or by an attorney, that person's own cause in any of the courts of this state." The Constitutional issue was one unique to the Georgia Constitution which provides, in Art. ![]() When the defendant subsequently prevailed on summary judgment and applied for an award of attorney's fees, the trial court refused the motion on the grounds that Rule 68 was invalid under the Georgia Constitution. In Baptiste, the defendant had made a settlement offer under rule 68 which was rejected. ![]() (2) If a plaintiff makes an offer of settlement which is rejected by the defendant and the plaintiff recovers a final judgment in an amount greater than 125 percent of such offer of settlement, the plaintiff shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorney's fees and expenses of litigation incurred by the plaintiff or on the plaintiff's behalf from the date of the rejection of the offer of settlement through the entry of judgment. The statute provides: (1) If a defendant makes an offer of settlement which is rejected by the plaintiff, the defendant shall be entitled to recover reasonable attorney's fees and expenses of litigation incurred by the defendant or on the defendant's behalf from the date of the rejection of the offer of settlement through the entry of judgment if the final judgment is one of no liability or the final judgment obtained by the plaintiff is less than 75 percent of such offer of settlement. If either party's settlement demand or offer is rejected, that party may be entitled to recover its attorney's fees. 9-11-68) provides that either party may serve upon the other a written demand or offer to settle a tort claim for a specified amount of money. The Georgia offer of judgment rule (codified at O.C.G.A.
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