Georgia Court of Appeals traveling to Coffee County for oral arguments

The Court of Appeals of Georgia will head south on its first offsite oral argument of 2023, to Coffee County, Georgia, on February 8, 2023. The Court is committed to increasing confidence in the judiciary by making its judges more accessible to the public and continuing its program of outreach across the state. 

Presiding Judge Christopher J. McFadden, Judge Trent Brown, and Judge Todd Markle will travel from Atlanta to hear arguments at Coffee High School Performing Arts Center in Douglas, Georgia. The arguments will begin at 10:00 am. 

In the first appeal, the judges will consider is about a claim for breach of promise to marry. In the second appeal, the judges will hear arguments about whether a hospital authority owes property taxes on leased land . The third appeal about a wrongful death claim against the Georgia Department of Transportation about a collision at an intersection where the roads meet at a 60 degree angle. 

The judges will hold a question-and-answer session for the students following the arguments. 

“Judge Markle, Judge Brown, and I are looking forward to holding oral arguments at the Coffee County High School Performing Arts Center. We are pleased to further the court’s civic engagement. And we hope the students and other visitors find seeing the court at work interesting and worthwhile.” said Presiding Judge McFadden. 

The judge continued, "We are grateful to the school administration and staff, as well as the Waycross Judicial Circuit judges – Chief Judge Dwayne H. Gillis, Judge Jeffrey Kight, Judge J. Kelly Brooks, and Judge Andrew C. Spivey -- for being such gracious hosts. We are also looking forward to visiting Douglas and interacting with the students after the oral argument session.” 

The Court of Appeals is Georgia’s intermediate appellate court. Headquartered in Atlanta, it serves the entire state. There are fifteen judges who sit 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.