Georgia high court ready to rule on Christian Coomer complaint
The former Floyd County state House representative was appointed to the bench in 2018.
The Georgia Supreme Court is expected to make a determination in the fate of suspended appellate court judge Christian Coomer in January after a seven-day hearing wrapped up earlier this month.
Coomer, a Republican, represented Floyd and Bartow counties in the Georgia House of Representatives for eight years, until he was appointed to Georgia Court of Appeals in 2018.
He is accused of a number of ethics violations stemming from allegations that he defrauded an elderly client while working as a private attorney in Cartersville.
Jim Fihart, 80, claimed he loaned $159,000 to Coomer’s holding company in March of 2018 with the promise that the money would be paid back in a year, according to published reports. However, the promissory note stated the debt would be paid off in 30 years, when Fihart would be well into his 100s.
In all, the charges state that Coomer borrowed more than $360,000 with terms favorable to himself and violated campaign finance rules by transferring money between his campaign and accounts within his law firm. Prosecutors allege that Coomer used those funds for overseas vacations for him and his family.
During the hearing, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the director of Georgia’s Judicial Qualifications Commission, Chuck Boring — working essentially as a prosecutor — stated that Coomer took advantage of a friend and client and should be removed from the bench.
“It’s the appearance of impropriety that really impacts the reputation of the judiciary,” Boring said in his closing arguments, according to the AJC.
Coomer took the stand during that hearing and acknowledged making mistakes but said he repaid the money with interest, although much was returned after Filhart filed a lawsuit against Coomer.
During the first hearings in October, Filhart took a less hostile stance. He told the JQC panel that he’d willingly loaned the money to Coomer and thought well of him.
However, Coomer didn’t just take out loans. He also named himself the executor, trustee and beneficiary of Filhart’s estate, according to the AJC. Even after he left the legislature to take on a role at the Georgia Court of Appeals in 2018, Coomer made his wife the trustee and executor of Filhart’s estate and gave her power of attorney.
This is not the only hearing Coomer has faced. He earlier paid a $25,000 state ethics fine over the campaign fund transfers and faces a state bar investigation.
Coomer testified before the panel that he made mistakes, and in hindsight would have done things differently, but said he didn’t think those mistakes should disqualify him from serving as a judge.
However, the JQC prosecutor said that Coomer treated Filhart like “a mark,” the AJC reported, and that a judge cannot negligently bypass the law, even if it was out of ignorance.
“How can the public ever have confidence that he can enforce the rules when he can’t follow those rules himself,” Boring asked during closing arguments.