Savage et al.v.State of Georgia et al.
Larry Savage, Richard Pellegrino, and Tucker Hobgood challenged Cobb County’s validation of revenue bonds intended to finance a new Atlanta Braves stadium. The financing used an intergovernmental agreement under which the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority would issue bonds and the County would make payments not covered by Braves licensing fees. The appellants argued that the arrangement violated Georgia’s constitutional debt-limit, gratuities, and lending clauses, the State’s revenue-bond laws, and the procedures governing bond validation. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s judgment validating the bonds. It held that the financing documents, read together, created a valid revenue-bond structure and did not make the County’s obligations unconstitutional debt or an impermissible gratuity or loan. The Court also held that the Authority’s failure to oppose the bonds did not invalidate the proceeding, the trial court properly excluded evidence about negotiations that was not relevant to whether the proposal was sound, feasible, and reasonable, and the intervenors waived or failed to show merit in remaining procedural objections. The Court acknowledged that the project’s wisdom and political consequences belonged principally to elected officials, not the courts, and concluded that the financing pushed existing law but did not cross into illegality. All Justices concurred.
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