Supreme Court of Georgia, 1973

Department of Transportation v. McCollum

Department of Transportation v. McCollum
Supreme Court of Georgia · Decided October 5, 1973 · Nichols
231 Ga. 334; 201 S.E.2d 444; 1973 Ga. LEXIS 690

Department of Transportation v. McCollum

Opinion of the Court

Per curiam.

Under decisions exemplified by Waller v. State Hwy. Dept., 218 Ga. 605 (129 SE2d 772); Muggridge v. State Hwy. Dept., 229 Ga. 670 (193 SE2d 849), and similar cases, the judgment of the trial court refusing to grant the Georgia Department of Transportation an injunction prohibiting the appellee from encroaching upon the highway right-of-way must be reversed.

Judgment reversed.

All the Justices concur, except Nichols, J, who dissents.

Dissenting Opinion

Nichols, Justice,

dissenting. I dissent from the judgment of reversal in this case because from the evidence adduced it is apparent that the Georgia Department of Transportation was in this case singling out this defendant and requiring him to vacate an admitted encroachment while permitting adjoining landowners to continue encroaching upon the same right-of-way. Such conduct constitutes a denial of equal protection of the law by applying the law differently to different persons under the same or similar circumstances. See Buchanan v. State, 215 Ga. 791, 792 (113 SE2d 609), and citations.

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