Bruce v. Maxwell, S99A0035.
| Decision Date | 12 April 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. S99A0035.,S99A0035. |
| Citation | 270 Ga. 883,515 S.E.2d 149 |
| Parties | BRUCE v. MAXWELL et al. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Denmark Groover, Jr., Groover & Childs, Macon, J. Jeffrey Helms, Jr., Helms & Helms, P.C., Homerville, for Lottie L Bruce.
Berrien L. Sutton, Sutton & Associates, P.C., Homerville, for William V. Maxwell, Comr., et al.
When Lottie Bruce, the Tax Commissioner of Clinch County, informed the Clinch County Board of Commissioners that she could not account for between $13,000 and $30,000 of the county's funds, the board engaged an accounting firm to conduct an audit of Bruce's office. Following the audit, the board learned that, from 1992 to 1996, Bruce's office collected, but had not accounted for, approximately $250,000.
Pursuant to OCGA § 48-5-140, the board notified Bruce that she was to render an account, and a hearing was held for that purpose. At the hearing, Bruce offered no explanation as to what happened to the missing funds. The board voted to suspend Bruce without pay, and William Maxwell was appointed as the interim tax commissioner. Bruce brought a petition for quo warranto, as well as a petition for certiorari, in the superior court seeking reinstatement to office. These cases were consolidated and, following a hearing, the trial court denied the relief sought. Bruce appealed.
A Clinch County grand jury subsequently indicted Bruce and charged her with four counts of malpractice in office. Prior to trial, Bruce reached an agreement with the district attorney in which she agreed to resign from office in exchange for a nolle prosequi of the charges. Bruce tendered her resignation to the governor and he accepted it, effective October 23, 1998.
Inasmuch as Bruce has resigned from office, this appeal, which simply challenges the propriety of Bruce's suspension, is moot and must be dismissed. See Reynolds v. Kelley, 231 Ga. 195, 200 S.E.2d 763 (1973) (). See also Goodyear v. Trust Co. Bank, 247 Ga. 281, 284(1), 276 S.E.2d 30 (1981). This is not a case in which there is "`[i]ntrinsically insufficient time to obtain judicial relief for a claim common to an existing class of sufferers.'" Collins v. Lombard Corp., 270 Ga. 120, 122, 508 S.E.2d 653 (1998); cf. Dolinger v. Driver, 269 Ga. 141, 142(2), 498 S.E.2d 252 (1998).
That Bruce is proceeding via quo warranto is...
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Merry v. Williams
...new Mayor Pro Tempore has been elected and Williams is no longer holding over, the issue of quo warranto is also moot. Bruce v. Maxwell, 270 Ga. 883, 515 S.E.2d 149 (1999). However, Defendants concede that the appeal is not moot with respect to the remaining claims for declaratory judgment ......
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...a petition can be brought by a citizen and taxpayer to challenge a public official's qualifications to hold office. Bruce v. Maxwell, 270 Ga. 883, 515 S.E.2d 149 (1999); McDonough v. Bacon, 143 Ga. 283, 284, 84 S.E. 588 (1915). However, quo warranto is not a proper remedy for misconduct com......
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...of an incumbent officeholder moots an appeal from an underlying action seeking to remove that individual. See, e.g., Bruce v. Maxwell, 270 Ga. 883, 515 S.E.2d 149 (1999); State ex rel. Stephan v. Johnson, 248 Kan. 286, 807 P.2d 664 (1991); People ex rel. Black v. Dukes, 96 Ill.2d 273, 70 Il......
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Local Government Law - R. Perry Sentell Jr.
...Two Sheets to the Wind, 16 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 361 (1999). Yet another period contest over right to office resulted in Bruce v. Maxwell, 270 Ga. 883, 515 S.E.2d 149 (1999), a quo warranto proceeding brought by a suspended county tax commissioner who later resigned from the office in return f......