Court of Appeals

of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A17D0131. ARNOLD STREET, LLC v. PHOEBE MAZE et al.

Plaintiff Arnold Street LLC filed a complaint against multiple defendants to

determine the validity of a security deed. On April 22, 2016, the trial court entered

final judgment in favor of the defendants, including therein findings of fact and

conclusions of law pursuant to OCGA § 9-11-52, as requested by plaintiff. On May

6, 2016, plaintiff moved to amend the findings of fact and conclusions of law and for

reconsideration. The trial court did not rule on the motion, and plaintiff filed a notice

of appeal on May 24, 2016. The case was docketed in this Court but was dismissed

as untimely since the notice of appeal was filed more than 30 days after the judgment

challenged. See Case No. A16A2185, dismissed August 12, 2016. The remittitur

issued, and plaintiff forwarded a letter to the court requesting a ruling on the motion

filed on May 6. The trial court entered its “Order on Remittitur,” denying plaintiff’s

request. This application followed.

A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of the entry of the order sought

to be appealed. See OCGA § 5-6-38 (a). “The proper and timely filing of a notice

of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer jurisdiction upon an appellate court.”

Perlman v. Perlman, 318 Ga. App. 731, 739 (4) (734 SE2d 560) (2012) (citation and

punctuation omitted). Instead of filing a timely notice of appeal from the trial court’s

April 2016 final judgment, plaintiff filed a motion to amend and for reconsideration,

which was in substance a motion for reconsideration. See Masters v. Clark, 269 Ga.

App. 537, 538 (604 SE2d 556) (2004) (“[T]here is no magic in the nomenclature

used. Under our rules, pleadings are judged by their function and not the name used.”

(citation and punctuation omitted)). However, the denial of a motion for

November 07, 2016
reconsideration is not directly appealable, and the filing of such a motion does not

extend the time for filing an appeal. See Bell v. Cohran, 244 Ga. App. 510, 511 (536

SE2d 187) (2000); Savage v. Newsome, 173 Ga. App. 271 (326 SE2d 5) (1985). 

Although at this juncture, plaintiff seeks discretionary review of the “order on

remittitur,” the order in essence simply denies plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration. 

Plaintiff cites OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) and (j) asthe basis for the discretionary application,

but neither section applies herein. Asstated in our order of August 12, 2016, plaintiff

failed to file a notice of appeal within 30 days of the entry of the appealable judgment

entered against it. Plaintiff’s attempt to extend the time to appeal from the final

judgment through filing an application for discretionary appeal from the court’s most

recent order in the case is not authorized. Accordingly, this application is hereby

DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction.

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.

11/07/2016