Cumberland Island-area development case to be decided in Fulton County

Atlanta- A Camden county Superior Court judge transferred a key coastal development case to Fulton County, despite an apparent attempt by the developer to have the case heard in Camden County. The developer's appeal of an Administrative Law Judge's February decision involves Cumberland Harbour, a residential and marina development planned near Cumberland Island National Seashore. The Southern Environmental Law Center and the Turner Environmental Law Clinic, representing the Center for a Sustainable Coast, Georgia River Network, and Satilla Riverkeeper, had argued that the developer had improperly filed its appeal in Camden County.

Georgia state law requires that any appeal by a limited liability limited partnership of a decision by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) be filed in either Fulton County or the county in which the general partner resides. The Secretary of State's office shows that Fulton County-based Land Resource Companies is the general partner of the Cumberland Harbour developer .

Interestingly, the developer amended its organizational structure five days before filing its appeal of the ALJ decision to replace Land Resource Companies as its general partner with a Camden County company.

"If what occurred between the entry of the administrative law judge's decision and the filing of the petition in this case is permitted to render venue proper in this Court, any limited partnership could arrange to have an unfavorable administrative decision judicially reviewed in any county in the state of its choice, by creating an entity in that county and assigning general partner responsibilities to it ... Such a result would be unreasonable and absurd," said Superior Court Judge Stephen G. Scarlett.

The Court also considered whether it would be appropriate to conduct a hearing on the question of whether the change in general partners was an attempt to manufacture venue. Judge Scarlett noted: "Such conduct, if proven, would constitute a fraud upon the Court." Judge Scarlett warned that in such a hearing the Court would waive attorney-client privilege so that "any advice counsel [King & Spalding] may have given" on the decision to designate a new general partner would be disclosed." Ultimately, the Court decided to transfer the case to Fulton County without holding this evidentiary hearing.

In February, an Administrative Law Judge rejected the state-issued permit for the Cumberland Harbour development finding that the state committee charged with permitting development along the coast had failed to consider the impacts to coastal marshlands and endangered wildlife from the massive development.

The developers of Cumberland Harbour propose to build as many as 1,200 homes and commercial facilities, as well as the largest marina project ever to be permitted in Georgia, directly across from Cumberland Island National Seashore. The marinas would bring as many as 800 to 1,000 boats to the area, posing a severe risk of boat strikes to the federally and state protected species that inhabit the area including manatees, sea turtles, and right whales - the most endangered marine mammal in the world.

The state of Georgia and the developer appealed this ruling which will now be heard in Fulton County's superior court.