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Metro Atlanta Task Force For The Homeless, Inc.v.Ichthus Community Trust

CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
Docket No.S15A1021, S15X1022, S15X1023, S15X1024, S15A1027, S15A1028, S15A1029, S15X1030, S15X1031
DecidedNovember 23, 2015
Reporter298 Ga. 221; 780 S.E.2d 311
JudgesJustice Robert Benham authored; all Justices concurred
Tags
CivilProperty LawContract LawBusiness LawCivil ProcedureSummary JudgmentInterlocutory AppealReversal
Case Summary

The Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless operated a downtown shelter on property securing loans that it later defaulted on. After the notes were transferred, Ichthus Community Trust foreclosed and bought the property. The consolidated interlocutory appeals concerned an order allowing a dispossessory action and summary-judgment rulings on the Task Force’s claims involving interference with charitable donations, business relationships, and public funding; quiet title; wrongful foreclosure; litigation expenses; and Georgia RICO. The Supreme Court of Georgia dismissed as moot the appeal from the dispossessory order after the related possession proceeding had ended. On the merits, the Court reversed the denial of summary judgment on the charitable-donation interference claim because the Task Force did not show that the defendants diverted a perfected gift to themselves. It also held that the Task Force lacked current title to maintain its quiet-title claim after foreclosure. The Court otherwise upheld the denial of summary judgment on conspiracy and interference with lenders and public funding, wrongful foreclosure, and litigation expenses because material factual disputes remained. It affirmed summary judgment for defendants on the RICO claim: only one pleaded predicate act was supported, the intimidation theory was not pleaded, and the wire-fraud theory was raised too late. The final order affirmed in part and reversed in part in eight docket numbers and dismissed the appeal in the ninth.

Opinion

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