Canton Road Sidewalk Goes to High Court

The process behind the goes before the Georgia Supreme Court this afternoon.

In Adkins et al. vs. Cobb County, Northeast Cobb lawyer Russell Adkins and Cobb County Juvenile Court Judge James Whitfield, his former law partner, claim that the county violated due process in trying to seize property for a sidewalk that’s part of the .

The law firm sits on the property at 2653 Canton Rd., The Marietta Daily Journal said.

Today’s case is about timing.

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Adkins and Whitfield say they weren’t given enough time in early 2010 to respond to the county’s declaration of taking under a state law that started the clock when the county filed its declaration, not when the property owners received it.

The plaintiffs argue that if the 60-day window in the law is a hard limit, not a suggestion, the county could declare it was seizing your property, then wait to inform you until it was too late for you to appeal the decision.

On the flip side, the county says Adkins and Whitfield knew about the Jan. 11, 2010, declaration of taking weeks earlier than March 1, when they acknowledged it.

The county says that if the court accepts the plaintiffs’ argument, as the Georgia Court of Appeals did in February in another Canton Road Corridor taking case, Cobb County vs. Robertson, someone could indefinitely postpone a public works project by refusing to acknowledge notice of a declaration of taking.

Adkins is representing himself today just as he represented his neighbor in the Robertson case.

The case is part of the court’s 2 p.m. session.

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