Georgia Supreme Court Opinions Published February 3, 2026

1 Suprem e Court o f G eorgia Kathleen Joyner, Public Information Officer 330 Capitol Ave, SE Atlanta, Georgia 30334 404-651-9385 joynerk@gasupreme.us SUMMARIES OF OPINI ONS Publis hed Tuesday, February 3, 2026 Please n ote: Opinion summaries are prepared by the Public Information Office for the general public and news media. Summaries are not prepared for every opinion released by the Court, but only for those cases considered of particular public interest. Opinion summaries are not to be considered as official opinions of the Court. The full opinions are available on the Supreme Court website at www.gasupreme.us. NBCUNIVERSAL MEDIA, LLC v. WALKER et al. (S25A0986) The Supreme Court of Georgia, having concluded that it lacks ju risdiction, has d ismissed an appeal by NBCUniversal Media, LLC (NBCU) that sought to reverse a Gwinnett County State Court’s denial of its motion to set aside a $500,000 default judgment. The default judgment stems from a garnishment action filed by Hevekiah Walker against NBC U, in which NBCU fa iled to timely a nswer the summons. NBCU tried to set aside the default judgment, asserti ng that if it had timely answered or had tried to open the default sooner, it would have owed less than $1,000. NBCU further argued that Georgia’s c ontinuing garnishment default statute [Georgia Code § 18-4-43(a)] violates the due pr ocess cl ause of t he U.S. and Georgia Constitutions as well as the Georgia Constitution’s Excessive Fines Clause. After the trial court denied NBCU’s motion to set aside the default judgment, NBCU filed a discretionary application in the Supreme Court of Georgia. The Supreme Court granted the appeal pursuant to its exclusive appellate jurisdiction of all cases in which the constitutionality of a law has been challenged. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case on Aug. 26, 2025.

2 In today’s unanimous opinion, authored by Justice Carla Wong McMillian, the Court has exa mined its own jurisdic tion in the matte r. “For a constitutional question to fall within the jurisdiction of this Court, such an issue must also be raised before the trial court, distinctly ruled upon by that court, and enumerated as an error on appe al,” Just ice McMi llian w rites. In this case, the Supreme Court has concluded that the trial court’s order did not distinctly or necessarily rule on NBCU’s constitutional challenges, because the trial court’s denial of NBCU’s motion could have been based on other arguments made in t he ca se. “As a distinct ruling on a properly raised constitutional issue is a requirement for invoking this Court’s jurisdiction, and seeing no other basis for our jurisdiction, we conclude that this Court lac ked jurisdic tion to grant N BCU’s discre tionary applica tion,” Justice Mc Millian writes. In addition to vacatin g the grant of discretionary application and dismissing the appeal, today’s opinion also transfers the application to the Court of Appeals (the state’s intermediate appellat e court). Chief J ustice Nel s S.D. Peters on has authored a concurring opinion, joined by P residing Justi ce Sarah H awkins Warren and J usti ces Cha rlie Bet hel, Sh awn Ellen LaGrua, and Ve rda M. Colvin, describing the state’s continuing garnishment default statute [Georgia Code § 18-4- 43(a)] as “on questionable constitutional footing, at least as to the Excessive Fines Clause of the Georgia Constitution” and urging the Georgia General Assembly to consider amending the statute. “It is appropriate to impose a penalty on the failure to respond timely to a garnishment; the problem is not the existence of a penalty, but the immense potential magnitude of the penalty the statute currently impose s,” Chief J ustice Peterson w rites. Attorneys for Ap pella nt (NBCU niversa l): T. Joshua R. Archer, Benjamin H. Brewton, Jena C. Lombard Attorneys for Ap pellees (Wal ker et al): Todd J. Pool e, Timothy M. Andrews ****************************************************************************** The Supreme Court of Georgia has upheld murder convictions and life pri son sentences for: Gerald Clark (DeKalb Co.) CLARK v. TH E STATE (S26A0250) *Jeffery Flakes, Jr. (Muscogee Co.) FLAKES v. TH E STATE (S25A1023) [In th e related case of T HE STATE v. WILLIAMS (S25A1024), the C ourt has r eversed the trial court’s o rder granting Wi lliams’s mo tion for new trial and has remanded the case back to the trial court.] *Travis Graham (Lowndes Co.) GRAHAM v. THE STATE (S25A1056) *Jamal Kerns (D eKalb C o.) KERNS v. THE STATE (S25A1115) *Marcus Leslie (Troup Co.) LESLIE v. THE STATE (S26A0138)* * Zajaliq Rile y (Muscogee Co.) RILEY v. THE S TATE (S2 6A0073)

3 Lewis Shells (Troup Co.) SHELLS v. TH E STATE (S25A1372)* Shauntae Taylor (DeKalb Co.) TAYLOR v. THE STATE (S25A1302) *Ronald Welsch (Lowndes Co.) WELSCH v. TH E STATE (S25A1094) * =Thes e two cases a re rel ated. IN LAWYER DIS CIPLINARY MATTE RS, the Georgia Supreme Court has a ccepted a volu ntary su rrender o f law l icense fro m the following attorney: * Paul Jason York IN THE MATTER OF: PAUL JASON YORK (S2 5 Y0 932) The Co urt also has issu ed opinio ns in the follo wing ca se: • BIGGS v. THE S TATE (S25A1464) • GIBSON v. THE STA TE (S25A0984) • HUITRON v. T OBY, WARDEN (S25A0124) • JENKINS v. THE STATE (S25A1050) • THE STATE v. LEE (S25A1087)