O.C.G.A. § 9-10-1 (2019)
Preference given to cases in which state is plaintiff
Where civil cases are pending in the superior courts, the Court of Appeals, or the Supreme Court in which the state is a party plaintiff, preference shall be given to such cases over all other cases so pending; and the judges or Justices, as the case may be, shall use all the power vested in them by law to bring the cases to a speedy trial and, whenever required to do so by counsel for the state, shall take up the cases for trial and proceed to try the same, unless the defendant shows some good cause for continuance, when the case shall be continued to a future time in the same term, or to the next term, in the discretion of the court. Nothing in this Code section shall affect the right of the state to a continuance on a proper showing.
History
Ga. L. 1876, p. 104, § 1; Code 1882, § 22a; Civil Code 1895, § 24; Civil Code
1910, § 24; Code 1933, § 81-1005; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 9.
Annotations
JUDICIAL DECISIONS On facts, motion for continuance by intervenor properly denied. - All applications for a continuance are addressed to the sound legal discretion of the court, and in all cases the party making the application for a continuance must show that the party has exercised due diligence. Accordingly, in a civil action to which the state was a party, and which is accordingly entitled to priority of hearing, the
court did not err in failing to grant a continuance on motion of the intervenor, based on the sole ground that the party had been absent from the state and had not heard of the case in time to make preparation for the hearing. Beazley v. De Kalb County, 87 Ga. App. 910, 75 S.E.2d 657, 1953 Ga. App. LEXIS 879, rev’d, 210 Ga. 41, 77 S.E.2d 740, 1953 Ga. LEXIS 479 (1953).
RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. 75 Am. Jur. 2d, Trial, § 1 et seq.
C.J.S. 88 C.J.S., Trial, § 77 et seq.