Brad Watkins and Emily Hancock obtain summary judgment in case seeking $47 million from City of Brunswick

On February 12, 2015, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia granted summary judgment in favor of the City of Brunswick on all claims asserted against it by Kennedy Funding, Inc. Kennedy Funding is a commercial lender that loaned $47 million to the developers of the defunct Liberty Harbor, and its loan was never repaid. Brad Watkins and Emily Hancock defended the City against claims that it did not take the necessary steps to ensure installation of all planned infrastructure by the developer of Liberty Harbor, and that it fraudulently represented that those steps had been taken. In an opinion issued in two parts, the court held that the City could not be compelled to complete the infrastructure in Liberty Harbor, that no City official acted with actual malice toward Kennedy Funding, and that sovereign immunity barred Kennedy Funding’s claims for fraud and conspiracy.