GA Code § 9-10-14 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 9 - Civil Practice|Chapter 10 - Civil Practice and Procedure Generally|Article 1 - General Provisions|§ 9-10-14. Promulgation of Form for Use by Inmates in Actions Against Government

  The Administrative Office of the Courts shall, with the approval of the Supreme Court, promulgate and from time to time amend as necessary a form or forms for use by inmates of state and local penal and correctional institutions in actions against the state and local governments and government agencies and officers. In addition to any other appropriate provisions, such form or forms shall clearly identify the nature of the action, the subject matter and disposition of all previous actions filed against any unit or officer of government by the inmate during his incarceration, the law and facts on which the action is based, the parties to be served, the parties against whom relief is requested, and the specific relief requested against each party. If an affidavit of indigency accompanies the pleading, it shall include a sworn financial statement which shall include but not be limited to any custodial account of the inmate with the institution wherein he is incarcerated.   No clerk of any court shall accept for filing any action by an inmate of a state or local penal or correctional institution against the state or a local government or against any agency or officer of state or local government unless the complaint or other initial pleading is on a form or forms promulgated by the Administrative Office of the Courts and such form or forms are appropriately and legibly completed. Any inmate filing such an action may submit with the complaint or other initial pleading any additional matter in any form if the pleading includes the form or forms required by this Code section. If the pleading is accompanied by an affidavit of indigency, the clerk shall not accept the pleading for filing unless the pleading is also accompanied by a certification from the institution wherein the inmate is incarcerated that the financial statement correctly states the amount of funds in any and all custodial accounts of the inmate with the institution.   Upon request of an inmate or the order of a court wherein an inmate has filed an action subject to this Code section, the officials in charge of a state or local institution may remit to the court amounts from an inmate's custodial account for payment of court costs, deposits, or filing fees. Such officials shall upon request of an inmate provide the certification required by subsection (b) of this Code section.   The Administrative Office of the Courts shall cause to be printed such number of the forms provided for in this Code section as is necessary to furnish such forms to attorneys and to the Department of Corrections and local penal and correctional institutions for use by their inmates. Such forms shall be distributed to such institutions by the Administrative Office of the Courts without cost, and such forms shall be provided in reasonable numbers to inmates without cost. The cost of printing and distributing such forms shall be paid from funds appropriated to the judicial branch of government.     (Code 1981, §9-10-14, enacted by Ga. L. 1985, p. 883, § 1.)   Code Commission notes.   - Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1985, "Department of Corrections" was substituted for "Department of Offender Rehabilitation" in the first sentence of subsection (d).   Editor's notes.   - Ga. L. 1985, p. 883, § 2, not codified by the General Assembly, provided that that Act would apply to actions presented for filing on or after July 1, 1985.   Law reviews.   - For article, "The Writ of Habeas Corpus in Georgia," see 12 Ga. St. B.J. 20 (2007).   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   Verification of habeas corpus petition.    - Where a prisoner completed a form provided by the Administrative Office of the Courts in filing the prisoner's habeas corpus petition, dismissal of the application was improper even though the verification statement did not comply with the traditional form. Heaton v. Lemacks, 266 Ga. 189, 466 S.E.2d 7 (1996).   No application to federal lawsuits.    - In a case in which a federal district court found that a state inmate's claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc, were time-barred, the inmate was not entitled to an equitable tolling. The inmate's contention that prison officials refused to provide the inmate the appropriate form to file a state court action did not warrant equitable tolling because O.C.G.A. § 9-10-14 did not apply to federal lawsuits. Price v. Owens, 634 F. Supp. 2d 1349 (N.D. Ga. 2009).   Construction of terms.    - Georgia General Assembly's use of that phrase "the Department of Corrections and local penal and correctional institutions for use by their inmates" in O.C.G.A. § 9-10-14(d) supports the conclusion that the phrase "state or local penal or correctional institution" used in subsection (b) refers only to those institutions located in Georgia. Gay v. Owens, 292 Ga. 480, 738 S.E.2d 614 (2013).   No application to inmate not incarcerated in Georgia.    - Georgia Supreme Court dismissed an inmate's petition for a writ of mandamus because the inmate was not incarcerated in Georgia; thus, the filing requirements of O.C.G.A. § 9-10-14(b) were not applicable to the inmate, and the inmate should have filed the petition initially with a Georgia superior court. Gay v. Owens, 292 Ga. 480, 738 S.E.2d 614 (2013).   Use of required form mandatory.    - An inmate's complaint for mandamus relief against a state prison warden and the commissioner of the department of corrections should not have been permitted to proceed as the inmate failed to use the form required by O.C.G.A. § 9-10-14(b); the language of the statute was unambiguous and did not provide for any exceptions. Donald v. Price, 283 Ga. 311, 658 S.E.2d 569 (2008).   Statute does not provide exceptions to form requirement.    - Clerk of court acts contrary to the requirements of O.C.G.A. § 9-10-14(b) when the clerk accepts for filing a complaint or initial pleading against a Georgia agency or official that is not in accord with the statute's requirements; the statutory language is unambiguous and does not provide for any exceptions: the clerk of a Georgia court is not to docket a mandamus petition without the statutorily required form. Gay v. Owens, 292 Ga. 480, 738 S.E.2d 614 (2013).    Cited in King v. State, 268 Ga. 384, 493 S.E.2d 189 (1997).   RESEARCH REFERENCES   19A Am. Jur. Pleading and Practice Forms, Penal and Correctional Institutions, § 3.