The Institute for Justice, a DC-based public interest law firm, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of residents of Atlanta targeting a slush fund that uses money gained from asset forfeiture that are largely hidden from the public:

The Institute for Justice is asking the Superior Court to order the Fulton County sheriff and the Atlanta and Fulton County police forces to produce the annual reports documenting the use of seized assets in 2008, 2009 and 2010 they are required by Georgia law to maintain. The organization said the three agencies failed to produce reports for public scrutiny as required by law.

Atlanta police spokesman Carlos Campos declined to comment on the case, citing the pending litigation. Tracy Flanagan, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office, declined to comment on the suit but said in 2010 the sheriff used forfeited funds to spend $2,333 on weapons and protective gear.

Attempts to get a response from the county police were unsuccessful.

“Law enforcement should follow the law,” said Anthony Sanders, one of the lawyers who filed the suit. “Georgia law enforcement agencies simply choose to ignore Georgia law.”

Civil forfeiture laws allow police to petition a court for seized cash and assets the department claims were illicit gains or tools in a criminal enterprise. The law doesn’t require authorities to secure a criminal indictment or conviction but requires the property owner to show in court he got the assets legitimately.

Sanders said the lawsuit targeted Fulton law agencies because its named plaintiffs are five county taxpayers, but he said the practice of poor or nonexistent documentation is common throughout the state. He said the institute randomly requested documentation from 20 Georgia departments and only two produced adequate responses.

According to the Institute for Justice, a random sample of law enforcement agencies show that only two of 20 agencies are reporting as required by state law. They have put together an 18-page report on the lack of accountability among law enforcement in Georgia.

IJ also produced this video explaining the issue:

Victory and Genevieve Patterson (yeah, I know — what story can’t be good that starts out with names like those?) are suing the Northside Women’s Clinic for allegedly performing an abortion on their daughter Renée without their consent.

Georgia, of course, requires parental notification and consent before abortions are performed on minors “unless there is a medical emergency involved or a judicial waiver is obtained.”

According to LifeNews.com:

The complaint, filed in the Fulton County Superior Court, says their daughter Renee Wymer discovered her then-boyfriend got her pregnant in April 2007. The couple kept the pregnancy a secret and discussed moving to Maryland and getting married or putting the baby up for adoption.

When the boyfriend’s mother found out about the pregnancy, she urged Renee to get an abortion and told her son to search the Internet for an abortion center.

The Pattersons say the Northside Women’s Clinic put false information on its web site that misleads teenagers about the law. They contend Northside’s web site said “unmarried patients under the age of 18 are required by Georgia law to have a parental notification note on the day of surgery.”

The boyfriend’s mother wrote the note and took Renee to Northside for the abortion.

In their lawsuit, Renee’s parents say the web site was misleading because the state law clearly requires a legal parent or guardian to accompany the minor for the abortion, not an unrelated adult.

Personally, it looks like they’re focusing on the wrong thing here. The website can say whatever it wants (does anybody really think the phrase “a parental notification note” means any parent in the world — not one related to the subject of the procedure — can provide this note? Really?); the fact is, it’s up to the employees of the clinic to follow the law, which clearly requires (a) 24-hour parental notification, and (b) consent of the subject’s parents.

Forget what the website said (and leave aside the macro debate over abortion “rights” and whether or not parental consent, which is required for every other medical procedure on earth, is an “unnecessary burden” or not); if the Northside Clinic actually accepted the note of consent from a parent who was not related to, or guardian of, the girl involved, and performed the procedure on that same day, then they violated two elements of the parental notification statute — period — and should be found liable, both legally and civilly, for doing so. End of story.

Dear A. Don:

Here is a photo of Spencer Price, a physician and officer in the Georgia Army National Guard. He’s the one your organization is suing because he couldn’t pay back a loan he arranged with you to start his own medical practice. Why couldn’t he do so? Yup, he was in Iraq. That, in case you were wondering, is not the town adjacent to Cairo, Georgia. In truth, it’s located on the other side of the planet. Here’s a link to help you figure it out.

I just read the whole sordid story from this posting that my colleague Erick posted below on this website. It was indeed, as he said, “un-freaking-believable.” And it led me to an important and meaningful conclusion about you:

A. Don Faulk, President and CEO of the Medical Center of Central Georgia, you are a bas****.

Yup, you have truly earned that moniker. While Dr. Price is helping to defend freedom and push back the walls of oppression, you have chosen to take him to task for a failure which he had no control over. Oh, that’s right, he had a choice in enlisting to serve his state and nation, right?

That’s fine, because you are still a bas****. I hope all your friends on LinkedIn send you a message through your account to tell you their thoughts about this situation, too! Best wishes.

[UPDATE 21 NOV 2008] Okay, A. Don, maybe you’re not the bas**** I thought you were.