Court Opinion

ID: 9928367
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-01-31 17:04:06.239428+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:46:04.538280
License: Public Domain

Court of Appeals
of the State of Georgia

                                            ATLANTA,____________________
                                                     January 31, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A24A0575. PROFESSIONAL ADJUSTING & CONSULTING SERVICE, LLC
    et al. v. ADELL RAYMOND et al.

        For the following reasons, this case is REMANDED as prematurely docketed.

        This case was docketed on November 9, 2023.1 Thereafter, Appellants
repeatedly sought time extensions to file and/or amend their brief, citing, among other
things, a need for the trial court to determine and supplement the appellate record.
Such motions were filed on November 21, 2023; December 8, 2023; and January 12,
2024.
        Meanwhile, Appellants filed in the trial court a Motion To Supplement the
Record on Appeal. Although Appellants filed in this Court a brief “out of an
abundance of caution because their [December 8, 2023 motion for a time extension
to file brief] . . . had not [yet] been ruled upon,” Appellants followed-up in this Court
most recently with a Motion for Extension of Time to File Amended Brief, advising
that the trial court had set a hearing on the motion to supplement initially for January
11, 2024, but that the trial court subsequently rescheduled such hearing to February
12, 2024. In their Motion for Extension of Time to File Amended Brief, Appellants
maintain that the “decision of the trial court as to whether the record on appeal will
be supplemented will have a direct impact on the evidence to be considered by this

        1
      Pursuant to Georgia Court of Appeals Rule 23, Appellants’ deadline to file their brief was
November 29, 2023.

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Court in the instant case.” Hence, “Appellants ask this Court for a further extension
of the briefing schedule in the instant appeal to accommodate the rescheduled hearing
of that motion.” Notably, “Appellants respectfully request an extension of time to file
their amended brief . . . to a date on or after February 24, 2024.”
       Due to the requirements of the Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VI, Sec. IX, Para. II,
however, this Court cannot grant open-ended time extensions. Moreover, in light of
the chronology outlined above, and in light of the indeterminate amount of time it will
take to ascertain – and, if necessary, to complete – the appellate record,2 it appears
that this case was prematurely docketed.                Therefore, this appeal is hereby
REMANDED to the trial court for purposes of resolving the above-mentioned issues
with the appellate record. See generally OCGA § 5-6-41 (f). Upon such resolution,
this case may be transmitted back to this Court for re-docketing.

                                            Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia
                                              Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________
                                                                          01/31/2024
                                                       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.

       2
        Appellants’ counsel represents in Appellants’ Motion for Extension of Time to File
Amended Brief that “[he] has attempted to confer with counsel for Appellees regarding the relief
requested herein on two separate occasions, but has been unable to do so.”

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