Legal Organ Defined
The term "legal organ" dates back to the mid-1800’s when Georgia law required that for a newspaper to be deemed a legal organ, it had to be a publication of general circulation in the county and otherwise be approved by the State Librarian of Georgia. The requirement of being the State Librarian’s "approved" legal organ was held unconstitutional and invalid in 1971 by the Georgia Supreme Court in Atlanta Newspapers, Inc. v. Transactions Publishing Company, Inc., 229 Ga. 678 (1973). Therefore, today’s requirement is a mere technicality.
The primary purpose for a legal organ is to give notice to the public of government actions, orders and proceedings . A real estate and foreclosure attorney will publish all necessary legal notices in the legal organ for the county where the property is located. Typically, there is a total of four (4) notices published concerning one property—each occurring three (3) weeks prior to the scheduled foreclosure sale date with a final notice the week before the foreclosure sale date. These notices must contain, among other things, the sale date, county courthouse location and sale hours, a description of the property and the name of the creditor who is conducting the foreclosure sale.
The Legal Organ of Fulton County
The legal organ provides an efficient way for the county to get important information out to the public. The legal organ publishes a variety of legal notices and advertisements, including foreclosures, tax sales, amendments to zoning ordinances, annual audits, elections, court calendars, the list of persons indicted for felony offenses, and the list of persons convicted of felonies. In addition, the Georgia Legislature has made it mandatory to electronically publish a notice if you give personal notice by mail or delivery. The notice must be published in the legal organ for the jurisdiction in which you give notice either before giving the notice by mail or delivery or within 1 week after giving the notice, whichever is earlier. For example, in a chapter 7 bankruptcy case, mailed notice should be given to all creditors at least 21 days before the meeting of creditors. The 21 days runs from the date of the postmark. A chapter 13 case only requires 14 days of notice to creditors, and this is calculated by counting 14 days (postmarked dates) backwards from the meeting date.
In Fulton County, the Fulton County Daily Report has historically been the Legal Organ. The paper was founded in 1888 and became the State’s earliest legal organ in 1908. In 2015, publishers acquired the paper. In May 2018, the Daily Report began using an app called News+Ads to publish its legal notices. The reports say that this is "to comply with the Georgia Supreme Court’s order regarding publication of legal notices placed by governments and other public agencies."
Moreover, and as a reminder, the Georgia Supreme Court issued an order on November 14, 2017, (Effecting the Publication of Legal Notices, 2017-11-14) providing that the official/legal units of government are precluded from only publishing in print newspapers. As of July 1, 2018, the following only need to publish the general public information electronically:
The newspaper edition is not required to run on July 1, 2018, if the newspaper runs the legal notices for a significant period of time prior to the effective date. The newspaper does have to include, however, a prominently displayed statement on the front page stating that the "newspaper also publishes legal notices and other public notices as a matter of public service."
Role of the Fulton County Legal Organ
The Fulton County legal organ operates as both as an information source for the public and a service to the government. The legal organ’s primary responsibility is the publishing of legal notices, court calendars, and other official government and legal records. While the law does not specify what a "legal organ" must do in addition to this, virtually every legal organ goes beyond this basic requirement to handle many other tasks.
One of the legal organ’s major functions is the publication of public and legal notices. A public notice is any notice published by a government agency and is usually required under state or local law. The public notice may include anything from the time and location of a public meeting to the date and location of an election. The goal is to provide the public with sufficient notice of the public activity so that those with an interest can be informed and take appropriate action or participate in some way. The legal organ is required to give the legal notice the same prominence as other commercial ads.
Beyond basic advertising functions, the legal organ may provide additional services, such as press releases or notifications published at the request of government agencies.
Another significant function is the distribution of ethics package filings under the Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission. The Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission is composed of Six (6) members appointed by the Governor who are responsible for the enforcement of laws concerning campaign financing, lobbyist registration and lobbyist expenditures. The Commission oversees and processes ethics filings by elected officials, lobbyists and lobbyist employers. A legal organ is required to run a summary publication of the ethics package (Georgia Code). This is in addition to the notice of election issues, liquor license applications, court calendars, and ad valorem tax liens.
With the era of Internet access upon us, today’s financial audience may utilize the legal organ’s website rather than printed publication when seeking accurate and reliable legal or financial information. Today, most legal organs offer their entire online publication and will even process GSA and electronically transmitted RFP and RFI award notifications and tabulations.
Another major publication area is the court calendar. The legal organ is frequently assigned the task of publishing the weekly civil and criminal calendars for the court system. Approximately 500,000 legal notices a year are published in Fulton County alone. Information regarding foreclosures or property tax lien foreclosures may also be included. These types of notices, required by law, are expensive but necessary, and must be placed in the paper with the largest circulation in the county.
The listing of bids and contracts is another area where the legal organ helps the government and contractors. One of the primary reasons private contractors and other professionals solicit advertisements in the legal organ is to benefit from the exposure they get for the services or products they offer. The legal organ is responsible for distribution and dissemination of advertisement and bid information to its subscribers and others who request notice.
The legal organ often provides advertising notification to other subsidiary publications or minority papers in the same geographic region. Virtually every legal organ provides a management process to meet current reporting requirements.
How Legal Notices are Published
Article IX, Section VII, Paragraph 2 of the Georgia Constitution requires each county to have a legal organ. Ga. Const. Art. IX, Sec. VII, Para. 2. A legal organ is a commercial newspaper for the advertisement of sheriff’s and tax collector’s sales and other notices or advertisements required to be published in the paper. Id. Pursuant to state statute, each county has a designated legal organ where all notices required by law to be published will be published. O.C.G.A. § 9-13-140. These notices include tax liens, tax sales, condemnations, road and bridge matters and foreclosures, among others.
The notices are not published in the newspapers simply because it is the law. The legal organ is a for-profit business that fulfills a public obligation. O.C.G.A. § 9-13-146(a). In return for publishing the legal notices, the legal organ is allowed to charge a "reasonable" fee for its services. Id. These fees can be substantial. For example, the Atlanta Daily World publishes the required retail price for advertising under the Georgia legal organ statute. The cost for a 1/4 page legal ad for 5 publications is $167.24. The bill for 10 publications would be over $325.00. Presumably, larger ads would require higher fees based upon column inches. These are significant sums, particularly for those persons who may not have the money to pay such fees, but must file a legal notice under the law. Nevertheless, that is what the law states.
On the other hand, there is a method by which the requirement to publish a legal notice in the legal organ can be waived. The Court in City of Atlanta v. Red Oak Center, LLC, ___ Ga. App. ___, A14A1027, 2014 WL 2601311 (June 10, 2014) ruled that the following rule applies to a condemnation proceeding in Fulton County:
[A] party seeking the waiver of publication in the legal organ must file a motion under the Civil Practice Act, serve the motion on the legal organ and any other interested parties, and obtain an order allowing alternative means of notice to those entitled to such notice. Although the statute entitles the legal organ to attorney fees and expenses incurred as a result of a motion to waive publication, we are constrained to conclude that the legislature did not intend to require a particular procedure or the payment of attorney fees and costs as a prerequisite for a party seeking waiver of publication in the legal organ.
Id. at *3 (emphasis added). The Court relied upon the plain language of O.C.G.A. § 9-13-146(a) which does not state that a party seeking a waiver of publication in the legal organ must "pay" the legal organ any fees, costs or expenses. See id. In other words, the Court held that the waiver provisions of the statute are self-executing, do not require the payment of attorney fees and costs and that the filing of a motion under the Civil Practice Act should suffice. See id.
Viewing Legal Notices In Fulton County
Residents and interested parties can access the full range of legal notices potential prospective bidders in Fulton County are required to publish in the legal organ online at www.mdjonline.com. You can also view legal notices on the MDJ mobile app. The Zoning green sheet is published weekly in the legal organ . It lists re-zonings in the County that will be heard by the Board of Zoning Adjustment that week. The public hearing for each re-zoning is scheduled and advertised for Monday and the legal notice is included in the preparation of monthly calendars for Atlanta City Council, the City of Sandy Springs and the Fulton County Commission.
Implications of the Legal Organ in Fulton County
Transparency and the spirit of neighborly exchange are paramount in a democratic society, especially when it comes to the operations of local government. The individuals of Fulton County have the right to know how their local government is spending its money. This information must be made available to the general public, in accordance with the Georgia Open Records Act. Nowhere is this more prevalent than with the legal advertising requirements of the Georgia Constitution which mandate that the "Legal Organ" of a county shall publish any legal advertisement for that county. From the Georgia Constitution: "The General Assembly shall have no power to bind the people by any law or resolution upon any subject without publishing such law or resolution, or the substance thereof, at least thirty days next before the same shall take effect." And, for counties: "The Georgia General Assembly shall have no power to bind the people of any county by any law, resolution, or order without publishing it, or the substance therof, for the space of fifteen days next before the same shall take effect." This is known as the "Legal Organ" provision in the Georgia Constitution and those stays the requirement that legal ads be published in a designated newspaper for that county. In the Fulton County legal, this means the Fulton County News and the Beacon. The job of a Legal Organ is to provide timely and accurate reports of legal notices to the communities they serve. The times of publication and the accuracy of the information can make a difference between a mortgage in foreclosure and an opportunity to bring the mortgage current. It can make the difference for an investor with $400,000.00 in a tax lien property and the peace of mind knowing his investment is, in fact, secure and can be sold at a later date. Legal notices can involve real estate sales, sheriff sales, deceased estates, foreclosures and more. Without a Local Legal Organ, this critical communication would go dark.
Issues with the Fulton County Legal Organ
Fulton County Government functions by published notices. This notice of a hearing would be published in the legal organ so that affected parties could attend and be heard. As required by state law, Fulton County issues this legal advertising in a legal organ.
The current legal organ for the entire County is the daily Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For Fulton County residents outside of Atlanta, which make up about half of the population, they do not have a local legal organ. The decision to publish legal advertisements in the AJC has been challenged repeatedly and it appears based solely on the ease of publication within the same company that publishes the newspaper.
For what it’s worth, the AJC is the only newspaper in Georgia that does not offer a Sunday edition and is not a member of the AJC. However, it appears that the AJC does offer a Sunday legal advertising section, which they typically charge a premium for.
In July 2011, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners considered a budget for the legal organ of almost $600,000 per year just for the publication of legal advertising (such as notices of foreclosures, govenmental hearings, sales of tax-delinquent real estate etc.). This was just for legal advertising — it did not include the other legal work that is done for the County.
Now, I do not pretend to be a media expert, however I do hope that someone can tell me why it costs $600,000 per year to run print advertisements for an area as technical as electronic bankruptcy filings and electronic court filings. I do not purchase newspaper advertising and I’m not sure that I have ever purchased any advertising at all, but my understanding is that you effectively pay by the column inch or by the line. I’ve been told that the AJC charges $1200 for a two inch advertisement. And, that is if you can fit your message into two inches. If you need additional space , you have to purchase an additional two inches or graphic space. I cannot imagine that it would cost the county $50 for a two inch legal advertisement. I would assume that a more reasonable rate for a legal advertisement would be $120 to $240.
Furthermore, what is the need for print advertising anymore? As can be seen from the News Release below, with the recent passage of HB 347 (discussed earlier on this blog), publication requirements for foreclosures has been greatly reduced and the requirement for other types of legal advertisement has been eliminated. In addition to the new electronic filing systems, there are numerous electronic media forms of publication available such as this blog and the GA Trustee Blog. (Of course, a big part of my job is maintaining our publications, so it would certainly be in my best interest to drive up the price of legal advertising. So, perhaps a competitor publisher would have a better idea of whether a $10,000 per year budget or a $600,000 per year for legal advertising is more appropriate.)
Even the AJC Newspaper is going digital with their newspaper. It seems that it would save money both for the News Publishing industry and the taxpayers to eliminate print advertising and move toward Internet based electronic publishing.
However, local governments seem reluctant to embrace the Internet. For example, a provision of our newly passed HOMESTRETCH law requires local governments to post a list of foreclosures filed against its tax digest online. There was much debate about whether this posting was "practicable" on the internet (I won’t bore you with the details of that debate). This posting has been required since January, however many counties still do not have the list posted online.
With regard to print advertising, many counties still include printed classifieds with the newspaper and do not distinguish legal organ publications.