Georgia Super Lawyers Recognize Scoggins Goodman Attorneys as Super Lawyer
The firm congratulates attorney Robert F. Goodman, Jr. and Martin A. Shelton on being selected by Law & Politics Media and Atlanta Magazine as a 2011 Georgia Super Lawyer. The annual recognition is limited to only 5% of Georgia attorneys as Super Lawyers and are selected by their colleagues in other law firms. Bob Goodman has been named as a Super Lawyer in each year that the designation has been awarded.
On October 5, 2009, in a case argued by David Rusnak, a shareholder of the Firm, styled Cendant Mobility Financial Corporation v. Asuamah, S08G1958, the Supreme Court of Georgia, after granting certiorari and hearing oral argument, reversed the ruling of the Court of Appeals in Asuamah v. Coldwell Banker, 293 Ga. App. 112 (2008), reinstating the summary judgment previously obtained by David Rusnak for Cendant Mobility Financial Corporation (now known as Cartus Corporation). The Court of Appeals had ruled that a seller of a home may be liable for the negligence of an independent contractor, if the seller was in a “superior position” to know of or discover that repairs were negligent. Previously, the Supreme Court of Georgia had permitted only a builder or builder-seller to be held liable in negligence for latent defects, in the absence of fraud or some types of misrepresentations. The Supreme Court of Georgia unanimously agreed with the public policy and economic disruption arguments made by Mr. Rusnak, reversed the Court of Appeals, and ruled that only builders or builder sellers could be sued in negligence; holding that, as Cendant Mobility Financial Corporation was not a builder or builder-seller, it could not be liable in negligence for latent defects in a home it sold.
