Court Opinion

ID: 9963195
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-24 18:05:07.352438+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:24:42.277191
License: Public Domain

Court of Appeals
of the State of Georgia

                                        ATLANTA,____________________
                                                 April 24, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A24D0295. RESURGENS EAST SURGERY CENTER, LLC et al v. GEORGIA
    ALLIANCE OF COMMUNITY HOSPITALS.

      Resurgens East Surgery Center, LLC, Resurgens Fayette Surgery Center, LLC,
Orthopedic South Surgical Center, Lawrenceville Surgery Center, LLC, Northwest
Georgia Orthopedic Surgery Center, LLC, and Roswell Surgery Center, LLC
(collectively, the “Surgery Centers”) are ambulatory surgical centers owned, at least
in part, by Resurgens, LLC. The Surgery Centers have filed this application seeking
discretionary review of a superior court order that: (1) reversed determinations of the
Georgia Department of Community Health (the “Department”) concerning the
continuing CON-exempt status of each of the Surgery Centers following a proposed
restructuring of Resurgens; (2) ordered each of the Surgery Centers to respond to
discovery requests propounded by the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals
(“the Alliance”); and (3) remanded the case to the Department for an evidentiary
hearing.
      Georgia’s Administrative Procedure Act limits judicial review by the appellate
courts of this State to final orders. OCGA § 50-13-20. Thus, “if the superior court
orders a remand on any issue, such ruling is not appealable.” Georgia Public Service
Commission v. Southern Bell, 254 Ga. 244, 247 (327 SE2d 726) (1985). See also
Oxendine v. Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission, 341 Ga. App.
901, 902 (1) (802 SE2d 310) (2017) (“Generally, where a superior court remands [an
administrative decision] for additional findings on any issue, this is not a final
judgment subject to appellate review.”) (Punctuation omitted.) Relying on this
well-established law, the Alliance has moved to dismiss this application for lack of
jurisdiction, and the Surgery Centers have filed a brief opposing that motion.
       Here, despite the Surgery Centers’s arguments to the contrary, we find that the
superior court order at issue is not a final order subject to a direct appeal. Accordingly,
the Alliance’s motion is GRANTED and this application is hereby DISMISSED for
lack of jurisdiction.

                                          Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia
                                            Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________
                                                                        04/24/2024
                                                     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.