Latisha Lee, Author at SGR Law

Mar 9, 2020

Coronavirus: Can Georgia Government Officials Order An Individual Quarantined for Public Health Reasons?

At the end of February 2020, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp issued an executive order establishing a Coronavirus Task Force, comprised of subject-matter experts from the private and public sectors, to assess Georgia’s procedures for preventing, identifying, and addressing cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19). A few days later, in early March 2020, Governor Kemp confirmed that there were two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Fulton County, Georgia. These cases involve two individuals who reside in the same household, one of which recently returned from Italy. In a press conference held on March 9, 2020, Governor Kemp stated there were six confirmed… Read more

Jan 7, 2020

Plaintiffs Beware: You May Have Less Time Than You Think to Bring a FDCPA Claim

In a recent 8-1 decision, the United States Supreme Court resolved a circuit split in favor of debt collectors. Rotkiske v. Klemm[1] (Rotkiske III). Mr. Rotkiske brought suit on June 29, 2015 against Klemm & Associates (Klemm) for violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Id. at *2. In September 2014, Mr. Rotkiske applied for a mortgage and learned that Klemm had an outstanding $1,500 default judgment against him. Id. In 2008, Klemm attempted service at Mr. Rotkiske’s previous address and learned that Mr. Rotkiske no longer lived there. Id. Klemm dropped the suit for failure to serve… Read more

Jan 7, 2020

States Seek PFAS Help Advisories Rather Than Toxicity Values

Some state officials are pressing the EPA to develop nonbinding health advisory levels for some PFASs in drinking water arguing that the toxicity values the EPA is currently developing are of little use to state regulators. Toxicity values, are a precursors to health advisories, and can’t be used by states attempting to set safety and remediation standards. A binding health advisory, on the other hand, can be adopted by most states and incorporated into their drinking water and cleanup standards. According to the U.S. EPA, the calculation to get to a health advisory level is very straight forward, but outlining… Read more

Dec 18, 2019

House and Senate Fail to Reach Agreement on Regulating PFAS in 2020 Spending Bill

House and Senate members failed to agree on language which would require the EPA to set enforceable limits for “forever chemicals” in the fiscal year 2020 appropriations package. The language would have directed the EPA to set maximum contaminant levels (“MCLs”) over the next two years for perfluorooctanoic (“PFOA”) and perfluorooctanoic sulfonic acid (“PFOS”) in drinking water, creating the first federal, legally binding limits for the chemicals. The disagreement occurred over whether a cost-benefit analysis would be required by law in setting the MCL. Republicans sought language to direct the EPA to conduct a cost-benefit analysis on the MCL which… Read more

Dec 18, 2019

Landlords Beware: The Georgia Supreme Court Rules on Contractual Limitations Periods in Lease Agreements

Drafters and landlords beware when drafting a contractual limitations period for legal actions in a lease that attempts to limit when both contract and tort actions can be brought by a tenant. The Georgia Supreme Court in Langley v. MP Spring Lake, LLC, No. S18G1326, 2019 WL 5301853 (Ga. Oct. 21, 2019), considered whether a provision in a lease agreement requiring “any legal action” to be brought within a year included premises liability actions and whether such a clause would be enforceable if it did. Without deciding the issue of enforceability, the Supreme Court held that the limitations provision as… Read more

Dec 11, 2019

National Defense Authorization Act Approved After Agreement to Exclude Regulation of “Forever Chemical”

The House of Representatives and Senate impasse over how strongly to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) in drinking water and as hazardous substances under CERCLA has been resolved. The differences arose over negotiations for the reauthorization of the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”). Democrats in the house were reluctant to compromise with Senate republicans over two provisions which would have set a drinking water standard for PFOA and PFOS, and would have listed any number of thousands of PFASs under CERCLA as hazardous substances. The resulting compromise to the NDAA directs the defense department to reduce its use of… Read more

Dec 10, 2019

What to Expect from Georgia’s New State-wide Business Court

On July 15, Governor Brian Kemp appointed Judge Walter W. Davis, an experienced commercial litigator, to serve as the first state-wide business court judge. Less than a month later, he was unanimously confirmed to serve as the first business court judge by the Georgia Senate and House of Representatives. This was one of the last major steps in making the Georgia State-wide Business Court a reality. The business court was approved by Georgia voters in the November 2018 election and codified with bipartisan support in the 2019 legislative session. O.C.G.A. § 15-5A-1 et seq. Although opponents voiced concerns over the… Read more

Dec 4, 2019

Supreme Court Set to Hear Montana Superfund Case

On December 3, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument on a case to determine if PRPs at a superfund site can pursue state causes of action while the EPA is actively pursuing remediation under federal superfund law. Copper smelting operations by Atlantic Richfield Co. were responsible for contaminating approximately 100 landowners’ property in Opportunity, Montana. Atlantic Richfield and the EPA have spent more than 30 years cleaning up the 300 square mile Anaconda Smelter Superfund Site, but the landowners claim that harmful amounts of heavy metals remain. The landowners went to state court to force Atlantic Richfield to pay… Read more

Nov 21, 2019

New USDA Hemp Rules: Initial Reactions

Since the USDA’s recent release of the interim final rule for domestic hemp production, three aspects of the rule have emerged as hot topics of discussion: (1) “total THC”; (2) the requirement for testing labs to be DEA-registered; and (3) the destruction of “hot” hemp. More than 500 comments have already been submitted in response to the rule. Many of these comments express dissatisfaction with the rule’s requirement that hemp crops must be tested for “total THC,” which is derived from the sum of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and delta-9-tetrahydrocaanabinolic acid (THCA). Crops testing higher than 0.3% total THC would be… Read more

Nov 20, 2019

Congressional Task Force to Consider Ethylene Oxide Emission Limits

A bipartisan group of legislators is set to establish a task force on November 20 to consider the potentially harmful effects of ethylene oxide, a harmful, combustible gas that elevates cancer risk in humans. The task force will consider the introduction of legislation to impose limits on ethylene oxide emissions from manufacturing and medical sterilization facilities. Ethylene oxide is used to sterilize about 50% of medical devices nationwide and helps make a range of products including adhesives, textiles, and antifreeze. The bipartisan group will focus on public health, federal air quality, environmental enforcement, and the impact on the medical device… Read more