Georgia Supreme Court hears cases that could shape the future of roads, car sales and child custody

The Georgia Supreme Court this week heard several cases including two that could affect how cities design roadways and who gets to sell cars and another involving child custody with an unmarried couple The roadway safety affair stems from the death of a -year-old who crashed a car into a concrete planter while home from college in The planter had been placed a half dozen feet off the side of a road in Milton before when the city was established A jury awarded the parents of Joshua Chang more than million The city lost on appeal and then petitioned the Supreme Court to consider the incident Milton is arguing that it was not responsible for keeping the shoulder of the road unobstructed Shoulders commonly accommodate fire hydrants telephone poles utility boxes and decorations the city s lawyers argued Georgia cities enjoy what s known as sovereign immunity meaning they are shielded from civil liability with chosen exceptions The state waives that immunity when a city has insurance that covers the injury It also waives immunity when cities fail to perform their ministerial duty meaning an injury resulted from neglect to follow procedures But cities only have a duty to maintain roads for the safe passage of vehicles in the ordinary class of expedition Harold Melton a lawyer for Milton stated at the Supreme Court hearing in the circumstance Tuesday When you have to make an evasive maneuver by definition now you re doing something that s unordinary he stated referring to the way Chang s motorcycle left the roadway and collided with the planter He stated Milton should not have to maintain the shoulder of a road for moving vehicles But an expert had testified at the earlier trial that no highway transportation official would agree that a planter should be that close to a road And a Milton official had testified that the city erred by leaving the planter in place in the decade after incorporation saying a ball was dropped and that the city had had ample time to remove the obstruction Milton had insurance but the damages exceeded the million in coverage So the question about whether Milton had a ministerial duty to keep the shoulder of the road safe for cars is a key one for the Supreme Court The answer could affect cities across the state Naveen Ramachandrappa a lawyer for the parents argued that cities should anticipate that cars must occasionally use shoulders for evasive maneuvers The ministerial duty is the duty to maintain the road he stated and the road includes the shoulder it includes all parts of the right of way that are in intended for use The high court also heard an appeal Thursday by electric van maker Lucid which failed to convince a trial court that the state prohibition on direct sales of vehicles by manufacturers violates the state constitution A key point made by Lucid lawyer Andrew Grossman was that Tesla was unaffected by a state law against direct sales The statute is riddled with exceptions for direct sales but then it prohibits companies like Lucid from selling directly he declared The high court also heard a situation about child custody rights in a situation involving an unmarried couple s pregnancy through a sperm donor In this development the birth mother wants the Supreme Court to reverse a trial court order granting her former partner caregiver status for the child The post Georgia Supreme Court hears cases that could shape the future of roads car sales and child custody appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta