General Commercial Litigation
The firm regularly represents landlords in litigation with tenants in every county in the Atlanta metropolitan area. This typically involves laying the required groundwork for filing a commercial dispossessory, but, depending on the circumstances, may involve a regular civil action for damages against a tenant and/or a guarantor. Even if the action is contested, the facts are rarely in dispute when representing a landlord, so the goal is generally to posture the case for summary judgment.
Once a judgment is obtained, the firm will generally seek to file a garnishment action to collect on the judgment. Although garnishments generally seek to freeze funds in a bank account, they can also be used in other ways, such as filing a garnishment action against a third party who holds funds that are to be paid to a judgment debtor. The firm also regularly represents judgment creditors in bankruptcy proceedings.
It is rare for a tenant to appeal an adverse ruling in a landlord/tenant case, so unfortunately there aren’t many reported cases of interest to list in this area. However, for an interesting case successfully defended by the firm – completely unrelated to the area of commercial leasing – first in the trial court, then in the Georgia Court of Appeals, and finally in the Georgia Supreme Court, please see the following:
Hanson Staple Company, Inc. v. Eckelberry, 297 Ga. App. 356 (2009).