Georgia Ethics Code Does Not Apply To Fulton Judges

Unchecked Power Cultivates Judicial Back-Scratching

In what should have been a no-brainer recusal of a biased judge, a slew of Fulton County judges rallied behind their rogue colleague which tragically confirms the already perceived level of integrity held by the Fulton County judiciary.

This article comes as an unanticipated "Part 3" in a sequence of articles following Derrick Jackson, a man on fire who was robbed just days before Christmas of his due process rights under the Constitution by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Melynee Leftridge. After Jackson took to the media about the situation, his family was thrown out of their home located in The Country Club of the South by the Fulton County Sheriff’s SCORPION Unit without a proper court order.

Beginning in May of 2020, Jackson had been making payments toward the purchase of a home located in The Country Club of the South. As is known, home values have been skyrocketing since at least September of 2021 and, at some point amidst this modern day gold rush, the seller decided he no longer wanted Jackson to buy the home and subsequently hired a company to stage an eviction, which was inevitably botched resulting in what appears to be an array of backdoor dealings among Fulton County Superior Court Judges, the Sheriff and lawyers—or is it all just one big coincidence? Let's review the facts and you be the judge.

The Country Club of the South: Fulton County’s Very Own Mar-a-Lago

The situation stems from a combination of written agreements between home-sellers Arthur M. McCracken and Julie L. McCracken and home-buyer Derrick Jackson.

Jackson was purchasing 955 Tiverton Lane, Johns Creek, GA, from the McCrackens in the luxurious gated community more formally known as The Country Club of the South, having already put $100,000 down and having made payments of $15,000 per month, paying over $20,000 in property taxes annually, paying thousands in HOA fees, and paying thousands in repairs and maintenance to the property over a period of two years.

"Over the years, a number of celebrities have reportedly owned homes in Country Club of the South, among them retired Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine, Usher, Whitney Houston, and NBA Hall of Famer Allen Iverson. The neighborhood has 19 tennis courts, an 18-hole, golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus, basketball courts, a concert venue—and, of course, 24-hour security."

Though the McCrackens hired a property manager to execute a "staged" eviction, this was obviously not a typical landlord-tenant case—with an alleged rent of $15,000 per month after a $100,000 down payment under a Purchase and Sale Agreement. Having committed to removing Jackson as their buyer, the McCrackens’ property manager refuses to drop the case despite having failed to deliver proper legal notices before initiating the eviction (or "dispossessory") process. At the time the case was filed the real estate market was getting exponentially warmer and it appeared to be in the McCrackens’ interest to pocket Jackson’s investment and seek a new buyer. Jackson offered multiple times to simply pay off the running balance and continue with the purchase, to which the McCrackens’ attorney has repeated "Not a chance!" Clearly, it was never about rent, it was about the sale.

The Mythical "Staged" Eviction: Fact Meets Fiction

In a typical eviction where a tenant fails to pay rent, a landlord would initiate a dispossessory action with the court on grounds of "nonpayment" of rent. And if the tenant comes up with the money owed, the landlord would drop the case and everyone moves on as before the case was filed. So what exactly is a "staged eviction"? We consulted with Jackson's attorney, Matthew D. McMaster and here was his explanation.

A "staged eviction" is when a landlord uses court procedures to remove a paying tenant by underhanded means. And if you have either (a) an unprepared tenant or (b) a corrupt or simply incompetent judge, a property owner acting in bad faith could easily be successful in his or her endeavor.

This often occurs when a property owner decides to sell the rental and they no longer want the tenant in the home under any set of circumstances (which is what we have here). And when there is a written lease and the tenant is solvent, it makes an eviction very difficult. Well, in Jackson's case, we not only have a solvent tenant and a written lease, but we also have a Purchase and Sale Agreement between the McCrackens and Jackson signed a day after the alleged lease agreement. To make matters even more complicated, the McCrackens aren’t even a named party to the eviction case.

The easiest way to get a tenant to simply stop paying his or her rent (and every landlord attorney knows this) is to demand some absurd amount so as to induce the tenant not to pay any money at all. Imagine for example that you owe the present month's rent, for say $2,000, and your landlord demands $4,000 due within three (3) days for both the present month and the previous month's rent though you know for a fact you already paid the previous month's rent. The natural response by an unsuspecting tenant is to not pay a dime! Then the landlord will file with the court to have the tenant evicted and will inevitably win—though the money judgment will be less than requested by the landlord in the original demand. And thus, the staged eviction is completed in a manner that appears "legal enough" so as to avoid criminal prosecution.

"As an experienced landlord-tenant attorney—often times defending tenants—I have been privy to witnessing behavioral patterns of many landlord attorneys and judges that are complicit with these tactics, and it is very sad to say the least. Whether you have flat out corruption or if you have a judge who simply isn’t paying any attention to detail, it's a very scary situation." McMaster continued: "The other judges turned a blind-eye when we sought removal of Judge Leftridge and relief from what we perceived to be blatant impropriety in Jackson's case. It was almost as if they were saying 'It doesn't matter what the law says, we aren't going to remove our friend from the bench.'"

Because the McCrackens are not a named party to the eviction case, Jackson could not address his title and breach of contract disputes in a counterclaim. So in February 2023, Jackson filed a Petition For Quiet Title And Complaint for Breach of Contract against "All The World" and the McCrackens.

The Courthouse Shell Game

There are two ways a judge can be recused (or "removed") from a case: (1) voluntarily and (2) involuntarily. The latter of the two, at least in Fulton County, occurs amongst flying pigs and unicorns. Jackson's case has extracted that fact pretty clearly.

On March 23, 2023, Derrick Jackson filed a Petition for Writ of Mandamus and Writ of Prohibition demanding, among other things, the recusal of the entire Fulton County Superior Court bench after two of the judges (including Judge Leftridge) failed to recuse themselves from the eviction case, two judges (one in the eviction case and one in the Quiet Title case) refused to recuse Judge Leftridge, and three judges (including Judge Leftridge) all refused to appoint a special master, who's appointment is mandated by Georgia law in the Quiet Title case. To illustrate how the circumventing of checks and balances is done by Superior Court Judges, Jackson submitted the following flow chart in his court documents highlighting the key players, their respective roles and the sequence of events:

History Repeats Itself

If there was ever a question as to whether a judge would recuse another judge for violating Georgia's Code of Judicial Conduct, this case has removed the matter entirely from conjecture. We can now be sure "beyond a reasonable doubt" that the unwritten rule amongst the fraternity of judges in Fulton County supersedes Georgia’s ethics code. That unwritten rule is: No matter the facts and circumstances, a judge shall not remove another judge from a case.

The same lust for money and power that caused a lack of empathy and respect for human rights and allowed slavery in the South to once prosper is still here—though perhaps incognito.