Court of Appeals

of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A24A1498, A24A1499, A24A1500. JASON HINES v. SUSAN PROPERTY

MANAGEMENT, LLC.

This case originated as a dispossessory proceeding in magistrate court.

Following an adverse ruling, defendants Jason and Tiffany Hines (collectively

“Hines”) appealed to the superior court, which entered several orders in favor of the

plaintiff. Hines then filed three appeals from various orders entered by the superior

court.1 The plaintiff has filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that we lack jurisdiction to

consider these appeals. We agree.

Pretermitting other possible jurisdictional issues with these appeals, the

superior court’s rulingsin this case are not subject to direct appeal. Because this case

reached the superior court through a de novo appeal from the magistrate court, Hines

was required to follow the discretionary appeal procedures to obtain review of the

superior court’s decisions in this Court. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (1), (b); Bullock v.

Sand, 260 Ga. App. 874, 875 (581 SE2d 333) (2003). “Compliance with the

discretionary appeals procedure is jurisdictional.”Smoak v.Dept.of HumanResources,

221 Ga. App. 257, 257 (471 SE2d 60) (1996). Hines’sfailure to file an application for

appeal deprives of us jurisdiction over this matter.Accordingly, the motion to dismiss

is hereby GRANTED and these appeals are hereby DISMISSED. Additionally,

Hines’s request for oral argument on these appeals and emergency motion to stay

proceedings pending these appeals are DENIED as moot.

1 Hines directed the appeals to the Supreme Court, which transferred the cases

here.

June 05, 2024
Hines has also filed “Petition for Emergency Writ of Mandamus” seeking

disqualification of the trial court judge. However, original mandamus in an appellate

courtis not an appropriate avenue for the relief Hines seeks. “Generally, the superior

courts of this state have the power, in proper cases, to issue process in the nature of

mandamus, prohibition, specific performance, quo warranto, and injunction, and

hence the need to resort to the appellate courts for such relief by petition filed in the

appellate courts will be extremely rare.”Brown v.Johnson, 251Ga. 436, 436 (306 SE2d

655) (1983). Rather, the procedure to be followed before seeking to invoke this

Court’s original jurisdiction is to file the petition in the appropriate lower court first.

See Graham v.Cavender, 252 Ga. 123, 123 (311 SE2d 832) (1984); Expedia, Inc. v.City

of Columbus, 305 Ga. App. 450, 455 (2) (b) (699 SE2d 600) (2010) (“Except in the

rarest of cases, litigants seeking to invoke this Court’s original jurisdiction . . . must

first petition the superior court for such relief.”). Being a respondent, “the

superior-courtjudge[ ] will disqualify, another superior-court judge will be appointed

to hear and determine the matter, and the final decision may be appealed[.]”Graham,

252 Ga. at 123. Accordingly, Hines’s request to disqualify the trial court judge is

hereby DENIED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

Clerk’s Office,Atlanta,____________________

I certify that the above is a true extract from

the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Witness my signature and the seal of said court

hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.

06/05/2024