What Makes The News?

No decisions were released yesterday, so, instead of analyzing decisions, I decided to see what the local news has said about the Georgia courts this past week.  I went to www.ajc.com, performed a basic word search, and learned that exactly one Georgia appellate decision was deemed newsworthy.  The entire report reads as follows:

"Councilman loses in appellate court

The Court of Appeals of Georgia has decided against Marietta Councilman Philip Goldstein’s attempts to build a five-story building on the Marietta Square.

The court on Aug. 31 agreed with a Cobb Superior Court ruling a year ago that dismissed the case. The councilman sued the city in April 2011 after the council lowered maximum building heights to 42 feet on the Square.

He has 10 days to ask the appellate court to reconsider its decision."

Reported at http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/county-by-county-news-for-wednesday/nR3R8/.  

You might be asking, how did I miss this groundbreaking piece of real estate law.  The answer is simple:  I report on what the Court actually did.  And what the Court actually did was pretty boring, and, one might say, obvious.  The case is Marietta Properties LLC v. City of Marietta.  And, in fact, the case does refer to the maximum building height ordinance.  But the ordinance had nothing to do with the decision.  Indeed, the key fact in the case was that "Marietta Properties has never submitted an application for a permit to construct the building."  In other words, there was nothing over which to sue.  The ruling stands for the very basic principle that, unless there is something like an actual controversy (as opposed to a theoretical dispute), the courts will not get involved.  

So, what makes this the only "newsworthy" case from the last couple of weeks?  Controversy among government officials and a plan to put a building in a prominent location seem to be the key ingredients.  But nothing in this case is going to have a long term legal impact.