Court of Appeals

of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A21A0253. ALBERT E. LOVE et al. v. FULTON COUNTY BOARD OF TAX

ASSESSORS et al.

In this dispute regarding ad valorem property taxes, Albert E. Love, Gregory

L. Fann, Sr., Anthony Kristian Vatalaro, Catherine Rachel Flood, Pete Zyskowski,

and Lynn Zyskowski (the “plaintiffs”) filed a lawsuit against the Fulton County

Board of Tax Assessors and others. The plaintiffs also filed a motion seeking to have

OCGA § 10-9-10, which provides an exemption for property taxes for the Georgia

World Congress Center Authority, declared unconstitutional. The Georgia World

Congress Center Authority was permitted to intervene in the case. The defendants

moved to dismiss the lawsuit for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be

granted under OCGA § 9-11-12 (b) (6), and the trial court granted the motion and

also dismissed several other pending motions as moot, including the plaintiffs’

motion to have OCGA § 10-9-10 declared unconstitutional. On appeal, we affirmed

in part and reversed in part, and specifically we reversed the dismissal of the motion

to have OCGA § 10-9-10 declared unconstitutional as moot. Love v. Fulton County

Bd. of Tax Assessors, 348 Ga. App. 309, 321 (5) (821 SE2d 575) (2018). Upon

remand, the trial court entered an order which, among other things, declined to

declare OCGA § 10-9-10 unconstitutional and dismissed the case. The plaintiffs

appeal, arguing, among other things, that the trial court erred by declining to declare

the statute unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court has exclusive appellate jurisdiction in “all cases in which

the constitutionality of a law, ordinance, or constitutional provision has been drawn

in question.” Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. II (1); see also ZarateOctober 07, 2020
Martinez v. Echemendia, 299 Ga. 301, 304 (2) (788 SE2d 405) (2016). Consequently,

given the plaintiffs’ argument that the trial court erred by declining to declare OCGA

§ 10-9-10 unconstitutional, it appears that jurisdiction over this appeal lies in the

Supreme Court, even if the appeal may ultimately be resolved on other grounds. See

Harrison v. Wigington, 269 Ga. 388, 388 (497 SE2d 568) (1998) (“If a constitutional

question is raised and ruled on below, [the Supreme] [C]ourt has exclusive appellate

jurisdiction, and this is true, although upon a consideration of the entire case, [the

Supreme][C]ourt determinesthat a decision upon such constitutional questionsis not

necessary to a proper solution of the case, and makes no decision thereon.”)

(punctuation omitted). As the Supreme Court has the ultimate responsibility for

determining appellate jurisdiction, see Saxton v. Coastal Dialysis & Med. Clinic, 267

Ga. 177, 178 (476 SE2d 587) (1996), this case is hereby TRANSFERRED to the

Supreme Court.

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.

10/07/2020