# C o u rt o f

A p p ea ls

o f t h e S t a te o f

G eo rg ia

ATLANTA,_

_ _ __ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ __ _

Th e Co u rt

o f Ap p ea l s h er eb y p a s s es t h e f

o ll owi n g o r der :

A2 4 D0 3 0 2

. GI R I SH MODI v

. I NDI A AMERI C AN CULTURAL

ASSOCI ATI ON (I ACA).

G irish Mo d i f

iled this timely d isc retio nary ap p lic atio n s e e k i n g r e v i e w o f t h e t r i a l

c o u rt’ s o rd er d ismissing his p o st- j u d gment mo tio ns. Und e r OCGA § 5- 6

- 34 (a) (1 ),

a p arty may file a d ir ec t a p p e a l f ro m “ [ a]ll f

inal ju d gments, that is to say, w here the

c ase is no lo nger p end ing in the c o u rt belo w , exc ep t as pro v id ed in Co d e S e c tio n

5- 6 -35. ” 1 I t d o es no t ap p ear that any p ro v isio n o f OCGA § 5- 6

- 35 (a), the d isc retio nary

ap p eal statu te, ap p lies here.

W e w ill grant a timely ap p lic atio n f o r d isc retio nary ap p eal if the lo w e r c o u rt’ s

o rd er is s u bj ec t to d irec t ap p eal. See OCGA § 5- 6

- 35 ( j ). A c c o rd ingly, t his a p p lic atio n

is hereby GRA N TED

, and Mo d i shall hav e t en d ays f ro m the d ate of this o r d er to f ile

a no tic e o f ap peal in the trial co u rt. I f M o d i has alread y f iled a timely no tic e of ap p eal

in the trial c o u r t, he need no t f i l e a se c o n d n o tic e. The c lerk o f the trial c o u rt is

D I RECTED to inc lu d e a c o p y o f this o rd er in t he rec o rd transmitted t o the Co u rt o f

A p p eals.

1 I t ap pears that the issu e o f OCGA § 9- 1 5- 1 4 a tto rney f e es remains p end ing in

the t rial c o u rt f

o llo w ing o u r remand fo r f u rther f ac t f i n d i ng. See Mo di v

. In di a

Ameri ca n C u ltu r a l A s s n. , 37 0 Ga. A p p

. 458 (89 7 SE2d 86 ) (2024). H ow ev er, the

p end enc y o f a n OCGA § 9

- 1 5- 1 4 atto rney fee issu e d o es no t af f ec t the f inality o f a c ase f o r p u r p o ses o f a p p ealing the j u d gment. See H i ll v. Bu ttra m , 255 Ga. A p p

. 1 23, 1 2 4 (56 4 SE2d 531 ) (2002) (reserv atio n o f OCGA § 9

- 1 5

- 1 4 atto rney f e e issu e d o es no t extend time f

o r f iling a no t ic e o f a p p e a l ). Thu s, M o d i was no t requ ired to f ile an

ap p lic atio n f

o r interlo c u to ry ap p eal here. April 22, 2024M o d i has also f iled an “ Emergenc y M o tio n f o r a W rit o f M and amu s” seek ing

d isqu alif ic atio n of the t rial c o u rt j u d ge. H o w ev er, an e mergenc y mo tio n f or o riginal

mand a mu s in an ap p ellate co u rt is no t an ap p ro p riate av enu e f o r the relief M od i seek s.

“ G enerally, the su p erio r c o urts o f this state hav e t he p o w er, in p ro p er c a ses, to issu e

p ro c ess in the natu r e of mand amu s, p ro hibitio n, sp ec if ic p erf o rmanc e, qu o w arranto , and inj u nc tio n, and henc e the need to reso rt to the ap p ellate c o u rts f o r su c h relief by

p etitio n f iled in t he ap p e llate c o u rts w ill be extremely rare. ” Bro wn v

. Jo hn s o n , 251 Ga.

436
, 436 (306 SE2d 6 55) (1 9 83). Rather, t he p ro c ed u re to be f o llo w ed bef

o re seek ing

t o i nv o k e this Co u rt’ s o riginal j u risd ic tio n is to f ile the p etitio n in the ap p r o p r i a t e

lo w er c o u rt f

irst. See Gra ha m v. C

a v en der

, 252 Ga. 1 23, 1 23 (31 1 SE2d 832) (1 9 84);

E xpedi a, In c. v

. C

i t y o f C olu mb u s , 305 Ga. A p p

. 450, 455 (2) (b) (6 9 9 SE2d 6 00) (201 0)

(“ Exc e p t in the r arest o f c a ses, litigants se ek ing to inv o k e this Co u r t’ s o riginal

j u risd ic tio n

. . . mu st f

irst p etitio n t he su perio r c o u rt f o r su c h relief

. ” ). B eing a

resp o nd ent, “the su p e rio r

- c o u rt j u d ge[ ] w ill d isqu alif y, ano t her su p erio r- c ou rt j u dge

w ill be ap p o inted to hear and determine the matter, and the f inal d e c i s i o n m ay be

ap p ealed [. ]” Gra ha m , 252 Ga. a t 1 23. Ac c o rd ingly, M o d i’ s emergenc y mo tio n is

hereby D EN I ED

.

C o u r t o f A p p e a ls o f t h e S t a t e o f G e o r g ia

C le r k ’ s O ffic e , A t la n t a ,

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ I c e r t ify t h a t t h e a b o v e is a t

r u e e x t r a c t fr o m

t h e m in u t e s o f t h e C o u r t o f A pp e a ls o f G e o r g ia

.
W it n e s s m y s ig n a t u r e a n d t h e s e a l o f s a id c o u r t
h e r e t o a ffix e d t h e d a y a n d y e a r la s t a b o v e w r

it t e n

.

, C le r

k

. 04/22/2024