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Law360 (August 18, 2020, 10:06 PM EDT) -- A Georgia probate judge died on Tuesday after contracting the novel coronavirus, and is the second probate judge in the state to have succumbed to COVID-19, while another remains on a ventilator in the hospital.
Chattooga County Probate Judge Jon M. Payne died on Tuesday from COVID-19, having tested positive for the virus in July, according to the Council of Probate Court Judges of Georgia. Judge Payne, 71, was an institution in the northwest Georgia community where he had served for almost five decades, the council said.
The council's executive director Kevin D. Holder said Judge Payne's death follows that of Dougherty County Probate Judge Nancy Stephenson, who died from COVID-19 complications in early April, about a week after testing positive for the virus.
Holder said 10 Georgia probate judges had tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began. He said Murray County Probate Judge John Waters is currently hospitalized with COVID-19 and receiving respiratory treatments.
"We see [probate court] closures almost every week," Holder told Law360 on Tuesday. "We've had several probate courts closed on and off, some have closed multiple times, anytime there's exposure to coronavirus at the courthouse. We've had probate courts where clerks have also tested positive and they've closed."
Georgia is under a judicial emergency order in response to the coronavirus pandemic, directing courts to operate remotely wherever possible and allowing certain in-person proceedings in accordance with federal, state and local health and safety guidelines.
Holder said Georgia's probate courts have typically closed for two weeks for deep cleaning once the virus has been detected, but otherwise continue to operate under the emergency order.
The council said Judge Payne, first elected as a probate judge in 1975, still marveled at the opportunity to serve his community. He was the only probate judge to ever serve in Chattooga County, and is survived by his two children, the council said.
"To know Jon Payne was to love him because he was such a genuine and kind-hearted man," the council said in a statement it shared with Law360 on Tuesday. "Among his colleagues he was held in high regard because he was always quick to share his knowledge, a smile or one of his many stories."
The council said in a public Facebook post that Judge Payne was due to retire at the end of the year and was honored in 2019 by the Georgia General Assembly for his 40-plus years of service. The council said Judge Payne was popular in his community and known among his colleagues for his sense of humor and easy charm.
"Judge Payne cherished dearly his ability to serve those in his community for as long as he did and once characterized his service as a humbling experience," the council said on its public Facebook page. "Within our probate court family, Judge Jonathan Marlin Payne will, no doubt, be missed."
Holder said Alcovy Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Horace J. Johnson Jr. also died in early July, having tested positive for COVID-19. The Newton County coroner ruled Judge Johnson's death was due to natural causes.
Cobb County Probate Judge Kelli M. Wolk, president of the Council of Probate Court Judges of Georgia, had asked for prayers for Judge Payne on Friday during a virtual meeting of the Georgia Judicial Council.
Judge Wolk said in the meeting that Georgia's 159 probate judges had been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
"We're currently praying for Jon Payne up in Chattooga County who has recently been placed in a coma and on a ventilator after testing positive, and he's not heading in the right direction," Wolk had said in the meeting. "We just ask for everybody's continued support as we sometimes literally have to touch our constituents on a daily basis with things like firearms licenses and going into nursing homes for guardianships and things like that."
As of Tuesday, the Georgia Department of Public Health reported there had been just over 241,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 4,794 deaths in the state since the pandemic began.
--Editing by Nicole Bleier.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
