SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) A lawsuit by Black descendants of slaves that challenges zoning changes affecting their island homes is before a Georgia judge, who must decide whether to allow lawyers to amend the civil complaint to avoid having it dismissed. Gullah-Geechee residents of Sapelo Island sat in court Tuesday as an attorney for McIntosh County s government argued that their lawsuit must be thrown out because of technical errors that clash with a 2020 change to Georgia s state constitution. The residents lawyers want a chance to fix those problems. The lawsuit was filed last year after county commissioners approved zoning changes that residents say will raise property taxes and force them to sell land in their families for generations.
Attorneys for Georgia slave descendants urge judge not to throw out their lawsuit over island zoning wsav.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wsav.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Attorneys suing a Georgia county over zoning changes that they say threaten one of the South's last Gullah-Geechee communities of Black slave descendants asked a judge Tuesday to let them correct technical problems with their civil complaint to avoid having it dismissed. A lawyer for coastal McIntosh County argued the judge must throw out the lawsuit because it clashes with a 2020 amendment to Georgia's state constitution dealing with legal immunity granted to state and local governments. Residents of the tiny Hogg Hummock community sued in October after county commissioners voted to weaken zoning restrictions that for decades helped protect the enclave of modest homes along dirt roads on largely unspoiled Sapelo Island.
A lawsuit by Black descendants of slaves that challenges zoning changes affecting their island homes is before a Georgia judge, who must decide whether to allow lawyers to amend the civil complaint to avoid having it dismissed