Georgia Court of Appeals hears oral arguments in Albany

ALBANY — Several times a year, the 12 judges of the Georgia Court of Appeals judges split into groups of three and slip out of their Atlanta courtroom to travel around the state to hear oral arguments in the cases before the court.

The panel pays this small nod to public relations in an effort to to put a face on inner workings of the court for the average Georgian who lives outside of Atlanta.

Thursday at the Albany Municipal Auditorium, three judges, Chief Judge Herbert Phipps, Presiding Judge Sara Doyle and Judge Michel Boggs, heard oral arguments in three cases. It was just the second time the Court of Appeals had heard arguments in the city.

Both visits occurred during Phipps’ tenure as chief judge.

Phipps, a native of Baker County, served as a judge in Dougherty Judicial Circuit Superior Court before his appointment in 1999 to the Appeals Court bench. He was appointed to the Appeals Court by then-Gov. Roy Barnes and has served as the panel’s chief judge since 2013. Before his work on the Superior Court bench, Phipps was judge of the Dougherty County Juvenile Court, and a magistrate and associate judge of the Dougherty County State Court.

“We use these trips as an opportunity to give folks outside of Atlanta a change to see how the court operates,” Clerk and Court Administrator Stephen Castlen said. “No decisions will be made today and no evidence which has not come through the lower courts can be presented.”

In oral arguments, the opposing attorneys are allotted 15 minutes each to argue their respective cases. The judges also have the opportunity to question facts of the case.

“The purpose of oral arguments is to provide the court with an opportunity to more fully understand the issues of the cases before them,” Castlen said.

The judges heard arguments in three appeals Thursday — A traffic violation appeal in DeKalb County; a negligence/personal injury appeal in Coffee County, and a negligence/wrongful death appeal in Chatham County.

While the cases were important, the judges also took time to put a face on the panel and shed light on the judges and what goes on in the Court of Appeals.

“You have to remember that most judges in the state of Georgia are elected, but our true constituency is the rule of law, ” Boggs, a Waycross native and former state representative and superior court judge, said. “We have the best judicial system in the world and it works. We have people who have fought and died to preserve this system.”

Phipps agreed.

“I think we have a great judicial system and in most cases we get it right,” he said.

The chief judge added much had changed on the Court of Appeals in the past 16 years. “In 1999 of the 12 judges, only two came from south of I-20.”

Today, according to the Court of Appeals website, eight of the 12 judges hail from below I-20.

Doyle, a native of Dallas, Texas, and a former chief judge of the court, thinks these trips around the state are important.

“People don’t get the opportunity to see us very often and I hope we can change that,” she said. “To my friends I am just Sara, and you are just doing a job.”

After the oral arguments were heard, the judges gathered for a meeting with the Dougherty District Bar Association.