Attorneys -- Good Standing. An attorney who is not in good standing with the State Bar through failure to pay bar fees is not authorized to file a suit for another person, and any such complaint is void. Howell v. Styles, 221 Ga. App. 781 (1996).

Notice by Facsimile. A statute requiring notice in writing by a certain deadline may not be satisfied by a facsimile transmission within the deadline. Dept. of Transp. v. Norris, 222 Ga. App. 361 (1996) (opinion of one judge; two judges concurred in the judgment only).

Service of Process - Authorized Recipients. The plaintiff is not entitled to rely on the defendant's assistant's statement to a process server that she is authorized to receive service for the defendant. Ludi v. Van Metre, 221 Ga. App. 479 (1996).

Requests for Admissions. A request for admissions must deal with factual matters, not opinions or conclusions of law. G. H. Bass & Co. v. Fulton County Bd. of Tax Assessors, 222 Ga. App. 118 (1996) (tax assessors could ignore request to admit that the taxpayer was entitled to an exemption in a specific sum).

Judicial Clerks -- Sick Lawyers. An attorney is not entitled to rely on a judge's clerk's assurance that a hearing will be cancelled at the attorney's request, since a judge cannot be bound by what the staff may say regarding how the judge will exercise the judge's discretion; an attorney who relies on the assurances of staff with regard to a discretionary matter does so at the attorney's own peril. Moreover, if a lawyer wishes to have a hearing continued based on the lawyer's sudden sickness, the lawyer must still make the showing required by OCGA § 9-10-155. Gomez v. Peters, 221 Ga. App. 57 (1996).

Withdrawal - Notice to Pro Se Parties. The Supreme Court held that publication of a trial calendar in the Fulton County Daily Reporter violated the due process rights of a pro se party in divorce litigation involving children. Crenshaw v. Crenshaw, 267 Ga. 20 (1996). The holding was narrow; the court refused to consider how to reconcile prior holdings that publication provided adequate notice in other cases. In particular, the court declined to decide whether the burden of providing adequate notice might belong to opposing counsel as a matter of professionalism, to prior counsel (to tell the client where to find published trial calendars), or on the court or clerk.

Inadmissible Pleadings. A recent case suggests that pleadings are not admissible against a party if a pretrial order supersedes the pleadings. Bridges Farm, Inc. v. Blue, 221 Ga. App. 773 (1996) (cert. granted).

Hearsay - Necessity Exception. Under Farmer v. State, 266 Ga. 869 (1996), evidence to be admitted under the necessity exception to the hearsay rule may require explicit findings by the trial court that the evidence is necessary and trustworthy.

New Trial and JNOV Motions. When a party moves for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict and alternatively for a new trial, the trial court should not grant JNOV without disposing of the conditional new trial motion. Ogletree v. Navistar International Transp. Corp., 221 Ga. App. 363 (1996). The Court of Appeals will remand the case to the trial court for a decision on the motion, even though the motion may seem moot at the time.

Appeals - Timeliness. Overruling a case noted earlier, the Court of Appeals held that the premature filing of a notice of appeal is not invalid, but should be treated as filed on the same date as the order appealed from is filed. Livingston v. State, 221 Ga. App. 563 (1996).

Garnishments. Though trust accounts are generally not subject to garnishment for the trustee's personal debts, a bank is not entitled to assume that an account opened by the debtor with a "trust account" designation is actually a trust account. The bank can protect itself by listing the account in its answer and explaining its uncertainty. Pre-judgment interest is also not available on a garnishment award. Wachovia Bank of Georgia, N.A. v. Unisys Finance Corp., 221 Ga. App. 471 (1996).

No-Fault Insurance. A rejection of optional no-fault coverage printed in bold print and containing the statutory language is nevertheless ineffective if it is no more conspicuous than other text printed in bold nearby. Southern Fire & Cas. Co. v. Freeman, 222 Ga. App. 308 (1996).

Contracts - Mutual Departure. The Court of Appeals criticized the Suggested Pattern Jury Instruction on mutual departure by acceptance of payments at irregular times. Though the acceptance of a few late payments would not establish a mutual departure, a pattern of repeatedly accepting late payments may establish mutual departure. Wright Carriage Co. v. Business Development Corp. of Georgia, Inc., 221 Ga. App. 49 (1996).

Joint Accounts and Property -- Guardianship -- Elder Law. Assume that an older person buys realty and funds accounts that are listed as owned jointly with a right of survivorship in a younger relative. Assume that the older person becomes incompetent and needs a guardian appointed. What happens if the younger relative is appointed guardian? According to the Court of Appeals, the younger relative will forfeit her right of survivorship by becoming the guardian of the older one because the guardian owes a duty of undivided loyalty to the ward, but her survivorship interest places her in a position of conflict. She is therefore estopped to assert the survivorship interest against the older person's estate. Moore v. Self, 222 Ga. App. 71 (1996).

Materialman's Liens. In order to defend against foreclosure of a materialman's lien based on full payment to a contractor, the owner must show that the contractor disbursed its payments to materialmen before any liens were filed. An owner can protect itself by requiring proof of payment from materialmen as a condition of payments to the contractor at each stage of construction. Browning v. Gaster Lumber Co., 267 Ga. 72 (1996).

Confrontation Clause - Drug/Alcohol Prosecutions. The Supreme Court struck down OCGA § 35-3-16, which authorized admission of a certificate of a crime lab employee about the substance in lieu of live testimony, since it imposed on the criminal defendant too great a burden to confront the analyst. Miller v. State, 266 Ga. 850 (1996).