Sonny Perdue Signs SB 277 Amending the Georgia Hazardous Site Reuse/Redevelopment Act.

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed into law SB 277 which will allow petroleum products, including underground storage tanks, to be included in the Georgia Brownfield Program. The amendment also allows for properties that did not originally enter the Brownfield Program prior to July 1, 2002 to apply and enter the program before January 1, 2006.

U.S. Department of Justice opens formal investigation of the City of Johnson City, Tennessee for violation of Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
See DOJ Notice of Formal Investigation.

James Dunlap & Associates LLC has filed a civil rights action against the Tennessee Health Services and Development Agency and the City of Johnson City, Tennessee, for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

The lawsuit is being brought on behalf of opiate-addicted disabled people who live in the Johnson City area (Tri Cities Area), among an estimated 1,000 people or more–including pregnant women–being forced to drive more than 100 miles roundtrip–as often as daily–to obtain life-saving, doctor-prescribed medication. This “forced march” of disabled people is taking place because policy makers refuse to allow standard of care Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) into the area despite the fact the area suffers some of the highest opiate-addiction rates in the United States. About one Johnson City area resident dies from a drug overdose every three days–a higher death rate than U.S. casualties in Irag and Afghanistan. Despite this horrendous drug overdose death rate, policymakers refuse to allow area residents convenient access to a treatment that has been recognized as the “standard of care” by the following world health organizations: The National Institute of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the World Health Organization, the New England Journal of Medicine, and the American Medical Association.

Apparently, because no take-home doses are allowed patients in the first 90 days of MMT treatment, policymakers see no problem in making disabled people, including pregnant women, drive more than 9,000 miles in the first 90 days of doctor-prescribed MMT treatment to save their own lives or the lives of their babies. Instead, policymakers want to force disabled people to undergo abstinence treatment (with up to 90% failure rate) or force them to use non-standard Suboxone. Suboxone can cause opiate withdrawal syndrome in a pregnant woman, if she is not already in withdrawal, which can kill her fetus. With hundreds of pregnant opiate-addicted women presenting themselves for treatment each year in the Johnson City area, how many unborn children are being harmed by the lack of access to standard of care treatment for pregnant women?

This human health catastrophe has resulted in death and human misery on a wide scale. It shows no evidence of abating without intervention by either a federal court or the U.S. Justice Department..

Read the Complaint.

James Dunlap & Associates LLC files class action against Saint Joseph’s Hospital alleging intentional over-billing of tens of thousands of patients from January 1, 2000 to December 17, 2007. This action follows a settlement by Saint Joseph’s Hospital with the U.S. Government Medicare program for $26 million for allegedly over-billing Medicare. Dunlap seeks to recover on behalf of individual patients for their deductibles and co-pays subject to the alleged overcharges.

Georgia General Assembly passes HB 383 in a landmark update of the Georgia Condominium Act. This bill provides condominium developers relief from paying common area maintenance expenses on any unsold units for up to 24 months. This bill also allows developers to sell units without a certificate of occupancy for owners wishing to customize their own units. This bill also creates master and sub-condominiums within the same development. Finally, the bill allows developers the ability to pursue phased condominiums, previously not allowed under Georgia law.

City of Moultrie, Georgia selects Redflex Traffic Systems for up to ten automated red light enforcement systems.

Governor Perdue signs HB 1484 assuring the right of limited liability companies, limited partnerships and other newly-developed business entities to purchase life insurance.

Governor Sonny Perdue signs SB 573 providing condominium builders with the ability to retain earnest money from purchasers and use these funds toward construction of the condominum project, previously denied them by state law. This measure will save condominium builders millions of dollars in interest expense and will lower construction costs for Gerogia consumers.

City of Thomasville, Georgia selects Redflex Traffic Systems for an automated red light enforcement system.

City of Griffin, Georgia selects Redflex Traffic Systems in a public RFP for an automated red light enforcement system.