Karma prevails and Recusal Motion ensues

Fulton Judge circumvents jury in an 'attempt' to give client of campaign donor over $40K in Registry funds

A Fulton County Judge entered an order in a case last Wednesday, December 21, carelessly releasing all money held in the Registry of the Court to a plaintiff despite ownership of over $40,000 of those funds still to be determined by the jury.

Superior Court Judge Melynee Leftridge doubled down on her lawless ruling by ordering that the defendant-tenant be evicted immediately and further required that the defendant pay an additional $30,000 into the Registry by December 31, 2022.

The plaintiff, Paramount Properties, receiving what appeared to be an early Christmas present was represented by Hall Booth Smith, one of Judge Leftridge’s highest campaign donors.

“This was the second time Judge Leftridge has gone out of her way to interfere with my client’s right to a fair trial by jury” said Marietta Attorney Matt McMaster. “In September, I identified what appeared to be a bad situation for my client with this particular judge and the opposing counsel, so I demanded a jury trial which is a Constitutional right in order to take the role of fact finding away from the judge’s hands.” Jury trials are a useful remedy and tool in a civil action for when you don’t believe that your assigned judge will be impartial. “There were a few clues that led me to believe we weren’t going to get a fair hearing,” said McMaster.

Just four days before the date set for the jury trial, the judge’s staff assistant informed the parties that there would not be a court reporter available to transcribe the proceedings and that they could not continue the trial for another date even if the parties were unable to secure their own court reporter in time. “The judge was basically putting herself in a position of power to manipulate the outcome of the jury trial and we would have no transcript for an appeal,” McMaster explained. “Both the right to appeal and right to a fair trial by an impartial jury are safeguards against judicial impropriety.”

The plaintiff-landlord (client of Hall Booth Smith) requested from the Court a release of all funds held in the Registry at around 5:20 PM on December 20, 2022 and, without a hearing, the judge entered the order releasing the funds at 11:03 AM the very next morning (on December 21) with over $40,000 of those funds still in dispute for a jury to decide ownership of. “I’ve seen my fair share of malfeasance on the bench in many [Georgia] counties so, while this situation isn’t overly surprising, it’s still disheartening and puts me in a bad position having to ask the judge to recuse herself,” McMaster continued. “It would essentially amount to malpractice on my part if I don’t motion to recuse the judge at this point.”

The defendant (represented by McMaster) had already deposited over $190,000 into the Court’s Registry before November of this year, making it mathematically impossible for the plaintiff to be entitled to all money already in the Registry and for the defendant to owe an additional $30,000 in rent through December 31.

Karma did come to the rescue, at least for the moment, as the party that benefited from the judge’s blitz-order was unable to withdraw the funds from the Registry as of December 22 due to a clerical error in the judge’s order and the judge’s staff had already gone on vacation, not intending to return until January 3, 2023. Judge Leftridge’s chambers were thus unavailable for comment.