Georgia’s Supreme Court overruled a decision by a Superior Court judge this week with the ruling that a case concerning a proposed rock quarry in Jones County may be presided over by Ocmulgee Circuit judges.

The disposition of the case was released June 1 and resolved an issue that had been in question since the motion to recuse local judges was filed June 20, 2008.

Jones County Attorney Frank Childs said he believes the Supreme Court ruling was a good discussion.

“This whole issue really has nothing to do with the merits of the case, and it took a lot of time,” Childs commented.

The attorney said the question of the Ocmulgee Circuit judges being able to try the case has taken more than six months, at which time the case has been at a standstill.

“Now the case will go back to one of the five judges in the circuit. This decision clears the way to put the case back on track now that this issue is resolved,” he said.

Childs explained that, if the ruling had gone the other way, the case would have still been tried in Jones County and heard by a Jones County jury. The difference would have been that a judge from another circuit would have been brought in to preside over the case.

“I was surprised when they first filed this motion because judges have no interest in the outcome of this case. But, we had to oppose the motion because we didn’t want the issue to go into default, which would have made us appear indifferent,” he explained.

Childs pointed out that all the justices on the Georgia Supreme Court agreed with the decision.

“I felt good about the results,” he added.

Background

A Mining Group LLC filed for a conditional use permit in April of 2006 to operate a rock quarry on 1,118 acres in Bradley on the property of James Barron Jr. and his father, who is now deceased.

At the time of the application, a rock quarry was a permitable conditional use under Jones County’s AG-1 zoning classification.

The conditional use was denied by the Jones County Board of Commissioners at a public hearing the following November, and a complaint from the company was filed in Jones County Superior Court the next month seeking relief for what the complainant categorized as the denial of the plaintiff’s rights.

Jones County commissioners are named collectively and individually in the lawsuit. The complaint describes hearings held in October and November of 2006 stating that opponents to the rock quarry expressed their objections, citing traffic, noise, vibration and other generalized fears, and the plaintiff contends that opinions of experts and voluminous amounts of additional empirical information were not considered in the commissioners’ denial.

The Barrons filed to join the suit in March of 2007.

The motion to recuse the judges asked for reassignment of the case to a judge from outside the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit. As a result of the motion, Ocmulgee Circuit Chief Judge William Prior Jr. requested the assistance of a senior superior court judge to preside over the case, and Judge Levis A. McConnell Jr. was appointed July 18, 2008.  

McConnell heard the arguments Sept. 3 in Jones County Superior Court. Attorney Bob Lovett represented the plaintiff, A Mining Group LLC, the company proposing the quarry, and Bill Larson represented Barron. Childs and William Nolan represented Jones County.

In an affidavit filed with the motion, plaintiff’s attorney stated that, at the very least, there is an appearance of impropriety based on the evidence that the judges in the circuit receive a supplement from the county. Lovett said he requested budget figures from the county, and in 2009 the supplement for the judges will be $13,500.

Nolan countered that the $13,500 figure cited by Lovett is split between the five judges and equals $2,700 each, and the majority of their more than $100,000 salary comes from the state.

Senior Judge L.A. McConnell heard the case and agreed with the plaintiff. His decision was dated Oct. 11, 2008, and Jones County’s appeal to McConnell’s decision was dated Dec. 19.

Decision

The unanimous decision by the Georgia Supreme Court states that the five judges from the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit will not have to recuse themselves when a Jones County case is tried. The opinion, written by Justice George Carley, said the state Supreme Court disagreed with the need for recusal of the judges reversing the lower court’s ruling.

The opinion quotes Georgia law that “recusal is warranted only if the trial court’s pecuniary interest in a proceeding is direct, certain, and immediate.” Pecuniary refers to monetary gain, and the decision notes that the judges of the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit do not have a direct pecuniary interest in the outcome of the lawsuit.

The document goes on to say that the county is required by an act of the state legislature to pay the supplement.

“As a result, a fair-minded and impartial person could not reasonably believe that the judges lack impartiality, let alone that they have a bias of such nature and intensity that it would influence their handling of the case.”