Council asked to join amicus brief urging Supreme Court to overturn Chang v. Milton ruling

City Attorney Kevin Tallent asked the Dawsonville City Council to support Resolution R2025-04, joining an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case Chang v. Milton.

"The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case. Now they are back asking us to join, in support of their amicus brief to the Supreme Court to have the Supreme Court overturn the Court of Appeals decision in Chang versus Milton," Tallent said. He described the underlying dispute as one in which the city of Milton was hit with a "very substantial verdict" because of a planter located in the right of way and warned that the Court of Appeals decision "essentially sets up a standard that is almost strict liability if you were to have something in your right of way and someone were to strike it."

Tallent explained this council had previously been asked to join a petition for a writ of certiorari and that the Supreme Court has accepted the case. He presented Resolution R2025-04 asking the council to sign on to an amicus brief seeking reversal of the Court of Appeals decision. A motion to support the amicus brief was made and seconded; the transcript records the motion and second but does not show a recorded tally or explicit final action.

Shortly after the resolution discussion, the council moved into an executive session to discuss pending or potential litigation, real estate acquisition and personnel matters. When the council returned, the mayor said, "I don't think there'll be anything to report after this." No formal vote tally on the amicus resolution was included in the public transcript.