Hooper v. State
Hooper v. State
Opinion of the Court
This is an in rem forfeiture case under OCGA § 16-13-49. It is the second appearance of the case before us. In the initial appeal, we reversed the trial court’s forfeiture of property containing a tavern, but affirmed the forfeiture of property upon which a mobile home was located.
On remand, the trial court made our opinion the order of the trial court. In the same order, the trial court attempted to interpret our decision, finding as follows:
Only the mobile home and that parcel of the defendant real property that “contain [s] the mobile home” shall be forfeited. This entire parcel shall be forfeited, not merely that portion of said parcel that is beneath the mobile home. The opinion in Hooper makes it clear that “the state met its burden with respect to the property containing the mobile home.” The opinion’s reference to “that portion of the defendant real property on which the mobile home sits” is meant to distinguish the parcel upon which the mobile home sits from other parcels that were included in the original description of the defendant real property. This language was not meant to limit the forfeiture of the defendant real property to the footprint of the mobile home.
Hooper appeals, contending the trial court erroneously interpreted our initial opinion. We agree and reverse the trial court’s order.
In the initial appeal, we held that the state provided a confusing description of the property in its complaint.
Because Hooper admitted in his answer that the mobile home residence was located on the defendant real property, we found that the state had met its burden of proving a prima facie case of forfeiture with respect to the mobile home. However, since the state failed to provide any description of where the mobile home was located in Tract Two, we held that the specific property to be forfeited only included “that portion of the defendant real property on which the mobile home sits and the mobile home itself.” This holding is supported by our opinion in State of Ga. v. Wilbanks.
The state argues that such a ruling “would result in such ingress and egress, easement, subdivision legality, deed restriction violation
Judgment reversed.
Hooper v. State of Ga., 252 Ga. App. 574 (555 SE2d 842) (2001).
Id. at 577 (2).
Id. at 576 (1).
575,
208 Ga. App. 422, 423 (1) (430 SE2d 668) (1993).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.