Court of Appeals

of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A18D0371. TONIA BERRY v. BOWEN STRAHAN.

DefendantTonia Berry seeks discretionary review of a trial court order denying

her motion to enforce a settlement agreement and awarding sanctions under OCGA

§ 9-15-14 (a). We, however, lack jurisdiction.

The application materialsshow that Plaintiff Bowen Strahan sustained injuries

when her vehicle collided withBerry’s vehicle. Strahan made an offer of compromise

under OCGA § 9-11-67.1 to Nationwide Affinity Insurance Company of America,

Berry’sinsurer. When Nationwide failed to accept the offer, Strahan filed suit against

Berry. Berry then filed a motion to enforce settlement, claiming Nationwide had

accepted Strahan’s settlement offer. The trial court denied the motion. In addition,

“[b]ecause there existed such a complete absence of any justiciable issue of law or

fact that it could be reasonably believed that the Court would accept the Defendant’s

Motion to Enforce Settlement,” the court granted Strahan’s motion for sanctions and

indicated that a hearing would be scheduled to present evidence of Strahan’s

attorney’s fees and expenses incurred in responding to Berry’s motion to enforce

settlement.

Berry filed this application for discretionary appeal, arguing, inter alia, that the

order denying the motion to enforce settlement is directly appealable under the

collateral order doctrine and that this court may review the portion of the order

imposing sanctions without need for an application. We disagree and conclude that

we lack jurisdiction because the interlocutory appeal procedures were not followed.

OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (1) authorizes direct appeals only from “final judgments,

that is to say, where the case is no longer pending in the court below[.]” However,

April 06, 2018
“[t]he collateral order doctrine permits appealsfroma small category of decisionsthat

are (i) conclusive, (ii) that resolve important questions separate from the merits, and

(iii) that are effectively unreviewable on appeal from the final judgment in the

underlying action.” Expedia, Inc. v. City of Columbus, 305 Ga. App. 450, 452 (1)

(699 SE2d 600) (2010) (punctuation omitted). “[T]he collateral order doctrine has

application to only a very small class of interlocutory rulings,” see Rivera v.

Washington, 298 Ga. 770, 775 (784 SE2d 775) (2016) (punctuation omitted), and, as

Berry admits, this Court has never entertained the denial of a motion to enforce

settlement as directly appealable under this doctrine. Rather, we have held that such

orders are interlocutory and require compliance with our interlocutory appeal

procedures, which include obtaining a certificate of immediate review from the trial

court and filing an appropriate application to this Court. See OCGA § 5-6-34 (b).

Here, Berry’s claim thatshe has already resolved this dispute with Strahan can

be effectively reviewed on appeal once a final judgment is entered. See Digital Equip.

Corp. v. Desktop Direct, Inc., 511 U. S. 863 (114 SCt 1992, 128 LE2d 842) (1994)

(under the federal collateral order doctrine, the refusal to enforce a settlement

agreement claimed to shelter a party from suit altogether does not supply a basis for

an immediate appeal, as the potential right to not defend the case is effectively

reviewable on final judgment); see also Rivera, 298 Ga. at 776-778 (an interlocutory

order rejecting a motion to dismiss based on a claim of immunity is not directly

appealable under the collateral order doctrine). Thus, Berry was required to follow

the interlocutory appeal procedures of OCGA § 5-6-34 (b) to obtain immediate

appellate review of the trial court’s order denying her motion to enforce settlement.

Moreover, contrary to Berry’s assertion, the portion of the order awarding

sanctions under OCGA § 9-15-14 is neither directly appealable nor appealable

through the discretionary appeal procedure. It is clear from the trial court’s order that

the case has been set for a hearing and, as of yet, there is no final order awarding

OCGA § 9-15-14 fees in this case. Thus, because the award of sanctions is not yet

final and Berry did not file an application for interlocutory review under OCGA § 5-

6-34 (b), her appeal of this issue is premature, and this Court lacks jurisdiction to
consider it.

Because Berry failed to follow the required appellate procedures, her

application for discretionary appeal 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.

04/06/2018