CATOOSA COUNTY, GEORGIA v. ROME NEWS MEDIA, LLC D/B/A CATOOSA COUNTY NEWS ( 2019 )

FOURTH DIVISION
DILLARD, C. J.,
DOYLE, P. J., and MERCIER, J.
NOTICE: Motions for reconsideration must be
physically received in our clerk’s office within ten
days of the date of decision to be deemed timely filed.
http://www.gaappeals.us/rules
March 5, 2019
In the Court of Appeals of Georgia
A18A1701. CATOOSA COUNTY, GEORGIA, et al. v. ROME
NEWS MEDIA d/b/a CATOOSA COUNTY NEWS.
DILLARD, Chief Judge.
Catoosa County, Georgia, and three county officials acting in their official
capacities1 (collectively, “Catoosa County” or the “County”) appeal the trial court’s
grant of declaratory and injunctive relief to Rome News Media, LLC, d/b/a Catoosa
County News (“CCN”), which sued the County to enjoin it from changing the official
legal organ of the County from CCN to the Chattanooga Times Free Press
(“Chattanooga Times”). According to CCN, taking such an action would violate
OCGA § 9-13-142 et al., which sets forth the eligibility requirements a newspaper
1
The three individual appellants are Gary Sisk, in his capacity as Sheriff of
Catoosa County; Jeffrey Hullender, in his capacity as probate judge of Catoosa
County; and Tracy Brown, in her capacity as clerk of the Superior Court of Catoosa
County.
must satisfy to be designated as the official legal organ of a Georgia county. For the
reasons set forth infra, we affirm.
Rome News Media—a publishing company located outside of Catoosa County
in Rome, Georgia—publishes several newspapers, including CCN, which is a weekly
newspaper that has been the official legal organ for Catoosa County since its creation
in 1949. And since 1992, CCN has been physically located within Catoosa County
in Ringgold, Georgia, where it has several employees, including a full-time editor and
advertising sales representative, as well as two part-time reporters and a part-time
sports editor. The editor of CCN is responsible for “operating the news side of the
newspaper[,]” and once he determines the content and design of each paper, he then
sends it to Rome for processing and printing. But the decision-making for what
stories are to be written and by whom, and the layout of the stories in the paper,
occurs in Ringgold. In addition, the commercial advertisements for the newspaper are
solicited from CCN’s Ringgold office. The legal notices, on the other hand, are not
solicited because they are required by statute. Specifically, these legal notices include,
inter alia, notices to the public of foreclosures, adoptions, alcohol-pouring licenses,
2
and businesses filing articles of incorporation. All of the newspapers published by
Rome News Media, including CCN, are members of the Georgia Press Association.2
On November 30, 2017, Catoosa County’s probate judge, sheriff, and clerk of
court, passed a resolution changing the legal organ of Catoosa County from CCN to
the Chattanooga Times with an effective date of January 1, 2018.3 The Chattanooga
Times is a daily newspaper that serves the metropolitan area of Chattanooga, which
includes some counties in north Georgia and Alabama. And the north Georgia area,
which includes Catoosa County, is a significant portion of the Chattanooga Times’s
service area. Indeed, out of approximately 60,000 subscribers to the Chattanooga
Times’s Sunday newspaper, 13,000 subscribers live in Georgia and 5,000 of those
subscribers live in Catoosa County. The Chattanooga Times offers various
subscription options for a range of prices, including options to receive the paper
daily, weekly on Wednesdays, only on Sunday, or only on weekends (i.e., Friday,
2
The Georgia Press Association, a nonprofit association composed of 139 daily
and weekly newspapers, filed an amicus brief in support of CCN. We thank the GPA
for its thoughtful submission.
3
See OCGA § 9-13-142 (c) (providing that “[a]ny selection or change in the
official organ of any county shall be made upon the concurrent action of the judge of
the probate court, the sheriff, and the clerk of the superior court of the county or a
majority of the officers. . . .”).
3
Saturday, and Sunday). Additionally, the Chattanooga Times has two reporters solely
dedicated to reporting news from Catoosa County and north Georgia, one of whom
is a resident of the County. Since 2005, the Chattanooga Times has also leased a
distribution center in Ringgold with employees who live in Catoosa County. But
before the newspaper is distributed, the articles written by the Chattanooga Times’s
reporters assigned to the north Georgia area are sent to Chattanooga, where the
newspaper is edited, published, and printed.4
In the years prior to the passage of the November 2017 resolution, the section
of CCN that included the legal advertisements was distributed for free to every
household in the County. But when CCN decided to cease distributing this portion
of the newspaper at no charge, the County sheriff, probate judge, and clerk of court
became concerned that, depending on CCN’s distribution rates, fewer residents would
have access to the legal advertisements. Given these concerns, the County officials
met with representatives of CCN, who explained that publishing the free weekly
newspaper was no longer cost effective, and CCN could not stay viable and continue
4
The director of finance and operations for the Chattanooga Times testified
that the paper is “published and printed” in Chattanooga. But as discussed below, the
meaning of the word “published” in the relevant statute is a question of law for the
Court. See infra notes 6-7 & accompanying text.
4
to publish the free newspaper. According to the sheriff, the decision to change the
County’s legal organ to the Chattanooga Times was based solely on an effort to
provide access to the legal advertisements to as many residents of Catoosa County as
possible. And in the time leading up to the passage of the resolution, the County’s
probate judge reviewed the relevant statutes and determined that the Chattanooga
Times satisfied the statutory eligibility criteria to be the official legal organ of
Catoosa County. In connection with passing the resolution, the same Catoosa County
officials issued a press release and published a legal notice in the CCN, informing the
public of the change and providing several reasons for their decision.
On December 12, 2017, CCN filed a complaint against Catoosa County for a
temporary restraining order, an interlocutory and permanent injunction, a declaratory
judgment, and a writ of mandamus.5 Specifically, CCN sought a temporary restraining
order and an interlocutory and permanent injunction, preventing the County from
changing its official legal organ from CCN to the Chattanooga Times on January 1,
2018, as planned. CCN also requested a declaratory judgment that it is the only
newspaper currently published in Catoosa County, that the Chattanooga Times is not
5
CCN also sought attorney fees, but the trial court indicated that it would
decide that claim separately, and it is not at issue in this appeal.
5
published in Catoosa County, and that the Chattanooga Times had not been published
in the County for the previous two years. As to the writ-of-mandamus claim, CCN
sought a court order compelling the individual county-officer defendants to rescind
their designation of the Chattanooga Times as the legal organ of Catoosa County and
to reinstate CCN as same.
Following a hearing, the trial court granted CCN’s request for a temporary
restraining order and enjoined the County from taking any action that would change
the status quo with respect to all matters at issue in CCN’s complaint. The trial court
further ordered that the restraining order remain in effect until it conducted the
interlocutory hearing and issued a subsequent order. Thereafter, the County filed its
answer to the complaint, asserting numerous affirmative defenses. CCN then filed a
motion for an interlocutory and permanent injunction, writ of mandamus, and
declaratory judgment, essentially requesting that the temporary relief already granted
become permanent. Ultimately, after holding a hearing on the matter, the trial court
issued an order granting the permanent injunctive and declaratory relief requested by
CCN. In doing so, the trial court concluded that the Chattanooga Times was
statutorily ineligible to be the official legal organ of Catoosa County because, unlike
CCN, it is not published in the County. This appeal follows.
6
The interpretation of a statute is a question of law, which is “reviewed de novo
on appeal.”6 And when only a question of law is at issue, we owe “no deference to the
trial court’s ruling and apply the ‘plain legal error’ standard of review.”7 With these
guiding principles in mind, we turn now to the County’s sole claim of error.
Specifically, the County argues that the trial court erred in its interpretation of
OCGA § 9-13-142 when it determined that the Chattanooga Times is not published
in Catoosa County. We disagree.
When interpreting any statute, we necessarily begin our analysis with “familiar
and binding canons of construction.”8 In considering the meaning of a statute, our
charge as an appellate court is to “presume that the General Assembly meant what it
said and said what it meant.”9 Toward that end, we must afford the statutory text its
6
Kemp v. Kemp, 337 Ga. App. 627, 632 (788 SE2d 517) (2016) (punctuation
omitted).
7
Id. (punctuation omitted).
8
Holcomb v. Long, 329 Ga. App. 515, 517 (1) (765 SE2d 687) (2014); accord
In the Interest of L. T., 325 Ga. App. 590, 591 (754 SE2d 380) (2014).
9
Chan v. Ellis, 296 Ga. 838, 839 (1) (770 SE2d 851) (2015); accord Holcomb,
329 Ga. App. at 517 (1) (punctuation omitted); May v. State, 295 Ga. 388, 391 (761
SE2d 38) (2014); Deal v. Coleman, 294 Ga. 170, 172 (1) (a) (751 SE2d 337) (2013).
7
plain and ordinary meaning,10 consider the text contextually,11 read the text “in its
most natural and reasonable way, as an ordinary speaker of the English language
would,”12 and seek to “avoid a construction that makes some language mere
surplusage.”13 And when the language of a statute is “plain and susceptible to only
one natural and reasonable construction, courts must construe the statute
accordingly.”14
10
Holcomb, 329 Ga. App. at 517 (1); accord Deal, 294 Ga. at 172 (1) (a); see
also State v. Able, 321 Ga. App. 632, 636 (742 SE2d 149) (2013) (“A judge is
charged with interpreting the law in accordance with the original and/or plain
meaning of the text at issue (and all that the text fairly implies) . . . .”).
11
Holcomb, 329 Ga. App. at 517 (1); see also Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council
of Arizona, Inc., 570 U.S. 1, 10 (II) (B) (133 SCt 2247, 186 LE2d 239) (2013) (Scalia,
J.) (“Words that can have more than one meaning are given content, however, by their
surroundings.” (punctuation omitted)); Deal, 294 Ga. at 172 (1) (a) (“[W]e must view
the statutory text in the context in which it appears[.]”); Scherr v. Marriott Int’l, Inc.,
703 F3d 1069, 1077 (II) (C) (2) (7th Cir. 2013) (Manion, J.) (noting that in statutory
construction cases, courts “begin with the language of the statute itself and the
specific context in which that language is used” (punctuation omitted)).
12
Holcomb, 329 Ga. App. at 518 (1) (punctuation omitted); accord Zaldivar
v. Prickett, 297 Ga. 589, 591 (1) (774 SE2d 688) (2015); FDIC v. Loudermilk, 295
Ga. 579, 588 (2) (761 SE2d 332) (2014).
13
Holcomb, 329 Ga. App. at 518 (1) (punctuation omitted); accord In the
Interest of L. T., 325 Ga. App. at 592; Kennedy v. Carlton, 294 Ga. 576, 578 (2) (757
SE2d 46) (2014).
14
Holcomb, 329 Ga. App. at 518 (1) (punctuation omitted); see Deal, 294 Ga.
at 173 (1) (a) (“[I]f the statutory text is clear and unambiguous, we attribute to the
8
Turning to the statute at hand, OCGA § 9-13-142 (a) provides, in relevant part:
No journal or newspaper published in this state shall be declared, made,
or maintained as the official organ of any county for the publication of
sheriff’s sales, citations of probate court judges, or any other advertising
commonly known in terms of “official or legal advertising” and required
by law to be published in such county official newspaper unless the
newspaper shall meet and maintain the following qualifications:
...
(2) The newspaper shall be published within the county and
continuously at least weekly for a period of two years or is the
direct successor of such a newspaper. Failure to publish for not
more than two weeks in any calendar year shall not disqualify a
newspaper otherwise qualified;
(3) For a period of two years prior to designation and thereafter,
the newspaper shall have and maintain at least 75 percent paid
circulation as established by an independent audit. Paid
circulation shall not include newspapers that are distributed free
or in connection with a service or promotion at no additional
charge to the ultimate recipient . . . .15
statute its plain meaning, and our search for statutory meaning is at an end.”
(punctuation omitted)).
15
(Emphasis supplied).
9
And OCGA § 9-13-142 (a) (4) details how many copies per issue must be circulated
within a county to be qualified to be that county’s official legal organ, which is
calculated based on the population of the county.16 In sum, to be statutorily eligible
to be the legal organ of Catoosa County, the Chattanooga Times must be “published”
within Catoosa County and satisfy certain paid circulation requirements.
The parties have stipulated, and CCN concedes, that the Chattanooga Times
satisfies the paid circulation requirements delineated in OCGA § 9-13-142 (a) (4).
Thus, the only issue before the trial court was whether the Chattanooga Times
satisfies OCGA § 9-13-142 (a) (2)’s requirement that it be “published within the
county” for the requisite period of time. And without referencing any dictionary
definitions of the word “publish,” any relevant legal authority other than the language
of the statute itself, or even the general principles of statutory construction detailed
supra, the trial court concluded that the Chattanooga Times was ineligible to be the
16
See OCGA § 9-13-142 (a) (4) (“Based on the published results of the 1990
United States decennial census or any future such census, the newspaper shall have
and maintain at least the following paid circulation within the county for which it is
designated as the legal organ newspaper: (A) Five hundred copies per issue in
counties having a population of less than 20,000; (B) Seven hundred fifty copies per
issue in counties having a population of at least 20,000 but less than 100,000; or
(C) One thousand five hundred copies per issue in counties having a population of
100,000 or greater . . . .”).
10
official legal organ of Catoosa County because it is not published there. As
previously noted, the County argues that the trial court erred in doing so.
Except when considering a technical term or term of art in a particular industry,
Georgia courts often begin by considering how a word has been defined in
dictionaries to determine its plain and ordinary meaning.17 And dictionary definitions
of the word “publish” include the following:
17
See e.g., Archer W. Contractors, Ltd. v. Estate of Pitts, 292 Ga. 219, 224 (2)
(735 SE2d 772) (2012) (explaining, in the context of construing a contract, that a
dictionary is a useful tool for narrowing the range of meanings ordinarily attributed
to a word and looking to dictionaries for accepted definitions of a word is “a good
place to start”); Miller v. Ga. Ports Auth., 266 Ga. 586, 586-87 (470 SE2d 426)
(1996) (relying on a dictionary definition of the word “agency” to determine if the
Georgia Ports Authority qualified as a “department or agency” of the state for
purposes of sovereign immunity); Monumedia II, LLC v. Dep’t of Trans., 343 Ga.
App. 49, 53 (1) n.11 (806 SE2d 215) (2017) (relying on a dictionary to determine the
plain meaning of the word “outdoor”); Mornay v. Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co. of
Pittsburgh, Pa., 331 Ga. App. 112, 115 (3) (769 SE2d 807) (2015) (looking to the
meaning of the word “capable[,]” as defined by dictionaries, when it was not defined
by the relevant statute); Jackson v. State, 309 Ga. App. 24, 26 (1) (a) n.7 & n.8 (709
SE2d 44) (2011) (relying on dictionary definitions of the word “obtain” in the
hijacking statute because the statute does not define the word and it is not a term of
art or technical term); Belvin v. State, 221 Ga. App. 114, 115 (470 SE2d 497) (1996)
(relying on a dictionary definition of “probation officer” to determine the ordinary,
logical, and common meaning of that term); see also OCGA § 1-3-1 (b) (“In all
interpretations of statutes, the ordinary signification shall be applied to all words,
except words of art or words connected with a particular trade or subject matter,
which shall have the signification attached to them by experts in such trade or with
reference to such subject matter.”).
11
“[t]o make publicly or generally known; to declare or report openly or
publically; to announce . . . to propagate, disseminate . . . [;]”18
“[t]o announce in a formal or official manner[;] . . . to proclaim[;]”19
“[t]o bring under public observation or notice; to give public notice of[;] . . .
to expose to public view[;]”20
“[t]o make generally accessible or available for acceptance or use; to place
before or offer to the public, now spec. by the medium of a book, journal, or the like;
to make generally available a description or illustration of (an archaeological find, a
work of art, etc.)[;]”21
“[t]o come into public circulation; to be published[;]”22
“[t]o prepare and issue copies of . . . [a] newspaper . . . for distribution or sale
to the public[;]”23 and
18
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary 1463 (2d ed.1991).
19
Id.
20
Id.
21
Id.
22
Id.
23
The Oxford English Dictionary (3d ed.2007),
http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/154072?redirectedFrom=publish#eid (last visited
12
“[t]o distribute copies (of a work) to the public[.]”24
Of these definitions, the only one to reference newspapers specifically defines
“publish” as the preparation and issuance of the newspaper for distribution or sale
to the public.25 And as discussed more fully infra, the Supreme Court of Georgia has
adopted a definition of “publish” in the context of newspaper publishing similar to
this one. To be sure, in the absence of this binding precedent, a court might (at least
initially) reasonably determine that the plain and ordinary meaning of the word
“publish” in OCGA § 9-13-142 (a) is simply to make the contents of a newspaper
publicly known or to report that information openly and publicly. But in the context
of OCGA § 9-13-142 (a), construing the phrase “published within the county” in this
manner would essentially render it meaningless. Indeed, if a newspaper satisfies the
circulation requirement of the statute, it would necessarily satisfy the requirement that
it be published (i.e., made publicly known) within the county. And our Supreme
Court recently reiterated the well-established principle of statutory construction that
“courts should construe a statute to give sensible and intelligent effect to all of its
August 30, 2018).
24
Black’s Law Dictionary, 7th Edition 1246 (1999).
25
See supra note 23 & accompanying text.
13
provisions and should refrain, whenever possible, from construing the statute in a way
that renders any part of it meaningless.”26
To this end, in Carter v. Land,27 the Supreme Court of Georgia squarely
addressed, albeit in a slightly different statutory context,28 what it means for a
newspaper to be published within a county.29 Specifically, in Carter, which
26
West v. City of Albany, 300 Ga. 743, 745 (797 SE2d 809) (2017)
(punctuation omitted); accord Footstar, Inc. v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 281 Ga. 448,
450 (637 SE2d 692) (2006); Sikes v. State, 268 Ga. 19, 21 (485 SE2d 206) (1997);
see Antonin Scalia & Bryan Garner, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts
176 (1st ed. 2012) (“If a [statutory] provision is susceptible of (1) a meaning that
gives it an effect already achieved by another provision, or that deprives another
provision of all independent effect, and (2) another meaning that leaves both
provisions with some independent operation, the latter shall be preferred”).
27
174 Ga. 811 (164 SE 205) (1932).
28
In Carter, our Supreme Court addressed the meaning of the phrase
“published in the county” as used in a statute providing that “Sheriffs and coroners
shall publish weekly, for four weeks, in some newspaper published in their counties
respectively,—and if there be no such paper published in the county, then in the
nearest newspaper having the largest or a general circulation in such county—notice
of all sales of land and other property executed by him.” See Carter, 174 Ga. at 813(emphasis supplied). And as explained supra, in this case, we must consider the same
phrase as used in OCGA § 9-13-142 (a) (2), which sets forth the requirements a
newspaper must satisfy to be designated the legal organ of a county. And because
both statutes use the phrase “published [with]in the county” in the specific context of
newspaper publishing, we see no meaningful distinction between the phrase as
construed in Carter and the phrase as used in OCGA § 9-13-142 (a) (2).
29
See Carter, 174 Ga. at 813-14 (1).
14
coincidentally also involved Catoosa County, our Supreme Court considered whether
the Catoosa County Record was published within the county for the purpose of
determining whether any newspaper was published there.30As to the underlying
proceedings, after learning that certain county officials were seeking to designate the
Dalton News as the official legal organ of Catoosa County, the owner of the Catoosa
County Record brought an action against those officials, contending that, for a
number of years, it had been the official organ and only organ of the County and
published its legal advertisements in the County.31 But the Catoosa County Record
conceded that the “mechanical work of printing the paper” was done in Walker
County, roughly two miles away from the Catoosa County line.32 The Catoosa County
Record argued that, because there was already an official legal organ published
within the County, the Dalton News could not be designated as the official legal
30
See id. According to the statute at issue in Carter, if no newspaper is
published within the county, then legal notices should be published in the nearest
newspaper having the largest or general circulation in that county. See supra note 28.
31
See Carter, 174 Ga. at 812 (Syllabus be the Court).
32
See id.15
organ of Catoosa County because it was published in Whitfield County.33
Nevertheless, the trial court rejected this argument and dismissed the case.34
On appeal, our Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s judgment in Carter,
identifying the issues as (1) whether the Catoosa County Record was “published
within the county[,]” and (2) if not, whether it was the nearest newspaper with the
largest circulation in the County.35 In addressing these issues, the Carter Court first
noted that “[p]ublishing a newspaper, as contemplated by the General Assembly with
reference to the statute in question, means something more than the mere distribution
of a newspaper[,]” or simply “having it entered at the post office for distribution.”36
The Carter Court then went on to explain that
[t]he intention of the General Assembly undoubtedly was to aid in
building up the locality to be served by the newspaper advertisements.
Students of Georgia history are well aware of the fact that Georgians
have always possessed a great degree of local pride and determination
to patronize home industry and to build up local institutions. That has
been clearly shown by legislation in many instances throughout the
33
See id. at 813.
34
See id.35
See id.36
See id. at 814 (1) (opinion).
16
history of the state. Keeping these facts in view, we think that act was
meant to bring about, by as much as legislation could contribute, the
encouragement of newspapers to own their local plant, or the payment
of rent to owners of local real estate, or to encourage the employment of
citizens or residents of the locality which the newpaper serves, and in
turn to bring about patronage of local merchants, schools, churches,
etc.37
Ultimately, without providing any explanation for how this analysis applied to the
particular facts of the case before it, the Carter Court summarily concluded that the
Catoosa County Register was not published within Catoosa County.38
Additionally, the Carter Court acknowledged that the meaning of the statutory
phrase “published in the county” had not been previously decided in Georgia, and it
expressly adopted the construction of the phrase as discussed more fully in a Montana
case, State v. Board of Commissioners of Big Horn County39 (“Big Horn County”),
which provides a more detailed analysis of the issue and references other jurisdictions
that have construed the pertinent phrase in a similar manner.40 Particularly relevant
37
Id. (emphasis supplied).
38
See id. at 813-14 (1).
39
250 P. 606 (Mont. 1926).
40
See generally id. at 607-08 (1).
17
to this case, in Big Horn County, the Supreme Court of Montana relied, in part, on a
New Jersey case, which held that a newspaper was published in a city when the office
of the newspaper was there and “the entire matter for the paper was composed, set up,
and placed in forms at such office, and the papers were issued from there to its
subscribers, . . . although the press work was done in [another city].”41 The New
Jersey court concluded that, under such circumstances, it was not relevant where “the
mechanical work was done.”42 Further, in Big Horn County, the Supreme Court of
Montana concluded that “[t]o publish a newspaper is, by common understanding, to
compose, print, issue, and distribute it to the public.”43 In support, the Big Horn
County Court explained that the “clear purpose” of the act requiring a newspaper to
be published in a particular county was “to compel the letting of printing contracts
to local newspapers, in order that local capital and local labor should secure the
benefits of the expenditure of money derived from local taxes, including their own
. . . .”44
41
See id. at 608 (1) (citing Bayer v. City of Hoboken, 44 NJL 131 (NJ 1882)).
42
Id. (relying upon Bayer, 44 NJL at 132-33).
43
Id.44
Id. at 608-09 (1).
18
In other words, the word “published” refers to “a newspaper having its home in the
county.”45
Turning to the circumstances of this case, the evidence set forth supra
establishes that, although the paper has a distribution center in Ringgold, the
Chattanooga Times’s “home” is, without question, located in Chattanooga,
Tennessee.46 Indeed, the director of finance and operations for the publisher of the
Chattanooga Times, who is responsible for “all the business office activities in the
production of the newspaper and preparing it to be sent out for circulation[,]” testified
that the Chattanooga Times is “headquartered” in Chattanooga. And while the
Chattanooga Times operates a distribution center in Catoosa County that employs
County residents, under Carter, publishing a newspaper involves more than mere
45
Id. at 609 (1). Following Carter, the Supreme Court of Georgia disapproved
of the opinion, but only to the extent that it could be construed as holding that, to be
published in a county, a newspaper must be “mechanically printed there.” Dooly v.
Gates, 194 Ga. 787, 792 (2) (22 SE2d 730) (1942). But the Dooly Court did not
address the other reasoning set forth in Carter or the Montana decision it adopted.
Thus, Carter remains good law, except to the extent that it suggests that a newspaper
cannot be published within a county unless it is printed there. And given that neither
CCN nor the Chattanooga Times is “mechanically printed” in Catoosa County, the
Supreme Court’s limited disapproval of Carter in Dooly is of no consequence in this
appeal.
46
See supra note 45 & accompanying text.
19
distribution of the newspaper.47 Additionally, evidence showed that, before the
“physical newspapers” are transported to distribution centers, the Chattanooga Times
is edited, formatted, and issued in Chattanooga.
Although the Chattanooga Times has two reporters dedicated to the north
Georgia area, including Catoosa County, they send any articles they write “back to
Chattanooga” to be “edited” and “published[.]”48 Additionally, to place a commercial
advertisement in the Chattanooga Times, a person must contact the newspaper’s
“general [phone] number in Chattanooga.” The newspaper’s billing systems are also
“centered” in the Chattanooga location. In sum, the evidence presented below showed
that the Chattanooga Times is “composed, set up, and placed in forms at [its
47
See supra note 36 & accompanying text. Although there was evidence that
the Chattanooga Times entered a lease for office space in Ringgold that began on
January 1, 2018, during the pendency of this litigation, the office space remained
vacant as of the time of the February 2018 final hearing. But regardless of any
publishing functions the Chattanooga Times intends to delegate to its new Ringgold
office, OCGA § 9-13-142 (a) (2) requires that a newspaper be published within the
county for a period of two years before it can be designated as the County’s official
legal organ.
48
As previously mentioned, although the Chattanooga Times’s director of
finance testified that the newspaper was “published” in Chattanooga, the statutory
meaning of the word “publish” is a question of law for the Court to decide. See
supra note 4.
20
Chattanooga office] and the papers were issued from there to its subscribers.”49 And
under Carter (and Big Horn County), such evidence establishes that the Chattanooga
Times is published in Chattanooga, not in Catoosa County.50
Lastly, we acknowledge that, since Carter was decided in 1932 and the current
version of OCGA § 9-13-142 was enacted in 1999,51significant advancements in
technology have drastically altered the way information is disseminated from news
outlets to the public, including newspapers. Indeed, in addition to physical
newspapers published in a specific location, a growing number of news publications
are only “published” online from numerous different physical locations. Thus, while
it might be perfectly sensible to update or revise OCGA § 9-13-142 in light of these
technological advances, “it is the job of the legislature, not the courts, to rewrite or
revise statutes.”52 In any event, online publishing is not at issue in this case, and we
49
See supra note 41 & accompanying text.
50
See supra notes 36-45 & accompanying text.
51
Ga. L. 1999, p. 6 § 2.
52
Walker v. Oglethorpe Power Corp., 341 Ga. App. 647, 668 (4) (802 SE2d
643) (2017); see Allen v. Wright, 282 Ga. 9, 12 (1) (644 SE2d 814) (2007) (“Court[s]
may construe statutes to avoid absurd results[,] [h]owever, under our system of
separation of powers . . . Court[s] do[ ] not have the authority to rewrite statutes.”
(punctuation omitted)); State v. Fielden, 280 Ga. 444, 448 (629 SE2d 252) (2006)
21
are bound by our Supreme Court’s precedents regarding the statutory construction of
the word “published” when it is used in references to hard copy newspapers.53
For all these reasons, we affirm the trial court’s grant of permanent injunctive
and declaratory relief to CCN.
Judgment affirmed. Doyle, P. J., and Mercier, J., concur.
(“[U]nder our system of separation of powers this Court does not have the authority
to rewrite statutes. The doctrine of separation of powers is an immutable
constitutional principle which must be strictly enforced. Under that doctrine, statutory
construction belongs to the courts, legislation to the legislature. We can not add a line
to the law.” (punctuation omitted)).
53
See Ga. Const., art. VI, § VI, ¶ VI (1983) (“The decisions of the Supreme
Court [of Georgia] shall bind all other courts as precedents.”); Whorton v. State, 321
Ga. App. 335, 339 (1), 741 S.E.2d 653 (2013) (holding that “vertical stare decisis
dictates that we faithfully adhere to the precedents established by the Supreme Court
of Georgia”); Bryan A. Garner, et al., The Law of Judicial Precedent 155 (“When
dealing with binding vertical precedent, a court has no room to decide how much
weight or value to give each case.”).
22