Court Opinion

ID: 9581804
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:18:56.317353+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:15.660409
License: Public Domain

Pannell, Judge,
dissenting. In my opinion, under the Appellate Practice Act of 1965 as amended to date, the Court of Appeals has no authority or jurisdiction to extend the time for filing the enumeration of errors beyond the time originally set by the rules of this court for the filing of appellant’s brief.
A notice of appeal from a final judgment rendered therein was *617filed on October 15, 1965, in a lower court from which a direct appeal to this court is authorized by law and the case was docketed in this court on November 5, 1965, and the clerk of the lower court certified that the delay of transmittal was not occasioned by appellant. The clerk of this court failed to notify appellant, or his attorney, of the docketing of the case in this court (Rule 15(d); 111 Ga. App. 889). The appellant failed to file an enumeration of errors on or before the time set by the rules of this court for filing a brief, that is, within 15 days after the case was docketed in this court. Upon receiving notice of the call of the case (Rule 26 (b)), the following letter, directed to the court under date of December 15, 1965, was received by the clerk:
“Re: #41704
Horton v. Western Contr. Corp., et al.
“I find the above case on the calendar this court for hearing on the 3rd of January, 1966.
“Appeal notice was given October 15th 1965, in Clayton Civil Court.
“I have waited expectantly for notice of docketing in order that I might file a brief but I have not to this day received such notice. I have inquired on several occasions at Jonesboro to determine if the record had been sent up to the Court of Appeals and I was advised that they had notice of its receipt in that court. I felt that receipt and docketing might be two different things, controlled by the clerk.
“This is an effort on my part to protect a right which I feel I have in my property and is important to me and my wife.
“I am ready to draw and file a brief and have been- so. If extended time, I can file such brief and enumeration of errors within a week. Whether this should be laid to me, I do not know. But, please advise me of what steps or action I should take in this matter which will protect the rights which I have, or may have. Respectfully yours, /s/ Oze R. Horton. Copy mailed to opposing counsel 12-16-65. Oze R. Horton.”
This court, on December 20, 1965, entered the following order entitled in the cause: “It appearing that counsel for appellant was not notified of the docketing of this case; It is ordered that *618the time for filing briefs for appellant and the enumeration of errors be extended until December 23, 1965. It is further ordered that opposing counsel have ten (10) days from that date in which to file brief for appellee.” Prior to the call of the case, the appellee filed a written motion to vacate the order granting the extension of time for the filing of the enumeration of errors.
There is thus squarely presented for decision the question of the authority and jurisdiction of this court to grant an extension of time for filing an enumeration of errors in a case transmitted and docketed in this court pursuant to a notice of appeal.
Section 14 of the Appellate Practice Act of 1965 (Ga. L. 1965, pp. 18, 29), as amended by § 2 of the Act approved March 4, 1965 (Ga. L. 1965, pp. 240, 243; Code Ann. § 6-810), provides that “the appellant and cross appellant shall, at the time the brief is filed in the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals, as the case may be, file with the clerk of the Appellate Court an enumeration of the errors relied upon, . . .” The Act does not set the time for filing the brief. The time for filing the brief of the appellant or cross appellant was left to the discretion of the appellate court and is set by the rules of this court to be 15 days after the case is docketed. Rule 15(a) (111 Ga. App. 883, 889).
Rule 13(a) (111 Ga. App. 883, 888) provides that “the Enumeration of Errors shall be filed in this court in accordance with the provisions of the Appellate Practice Act of 1965.” Rule 15(b) (111 Ga. App. 883, 889) provides for an extension of time for filing a brief in the following language: “Failure of the appellant to file a brief within the time required shall be construed as an abandonment of the appeal; provided, however, the appeal may be reinstated upon or before the call of the calendar by a showing that the failure was due to providential cause occurring prior to the expiration of the time of filing.”
There is no specific provision contained in the rules of this court for extending the time for filing an enumeration of errors.
Section 13(b) of the Appellate Practice Act as amended by § 1 of the Act approved March 4, 1965 (Ga. L. 1965, pp. 240, 243; Code Ann. § 6-809), provides that “no appeal shall be dismissed or its validity affected for any cause or consider*619ation of any enumerated error refused, except for (1) failure to file notice of appeal within the time required as provided in this Act or within any extension of time granted hereunder; (2) where the decision of judgment is not then applicable; (3) where the questions presented have become moot; or (4) where no enumeration of the errors relied upon is filed by appellant with the clerk of the appellate court within the time prescribed by section 14 hereof.”
This court, on October 20, 1965, rendered an opinion in which it said in headnote 4: “Under the new Appellate Practice Act the enumeration of errors must be filed in the office of the Clerk of the Court of Appeals by the appellant in a cross appeal at the time the briefs are filed, which must be within 15 days after the cross appeal is docketed in the clerk’s office. No extension of time for filing the enumeration of errors can be granted except for providential cause occurring prior to the expiration of the time for filing these documents.” (Emphasis added). Hayes v. Strickland, 112 Ga. App. 567, 568 (4) (145 SE2d 728). And, in division 4 of the opinion, it said: “A cross appellant in this court must, at the time the brief is filed in the clerk’s office, also file an enumeration of the alleged errors relied upon therein. Code Ann. § 6-810 (Ga. L. 1965, pp. 240, 243). Under Rule 15 of the Court of Appeals, briefs of cross appellants must be filed within 15 days of the day the cross appeal is docketed, and failure to do so will be construed as an abandonment of the appeal unless it be shown to the court that the failure was due to providential cause occurring prior to the expiration of the time for filing. Since no enumeration of errors or brief was filed by the cross appellant in cases 41588 and 41589 within the time limited and there has been no showing that the delay was due to providential cause, the cross appeals are dismissed for lack of prosecution.” In rendering this opinion, this court apparently assumed that § 14 of the Act should be construed as meaning that the enumeration of errors could be filed at any time set for the filing of briefs, either originally or as extended by this court, since the only rule of this court relating to extensions of time for providential cause was Rule 15 relating solely to the extension of time for the filing of briefs. This construction *620placed upon the Act by this court is in part borne out also by the provisions of § 13(b) as to dismissal by comparison of Item (1) relating to failure to file a notice of appeal, and Item (4) relating to failure to file an enumeration of errors, the first referring to an extension of time, and the latter making no mention of any extension of time. The inference, therefore, was that the time for filing the enumeration of errors was automatically extended by extending the time for filing the briefs.
Be this as it may, it is apparent that the Act makes no provision for extending the time for filing the enumeration of errors unless that time be automatically extended by extending the time for filing the briefs, and this assumption, indulged in by this court in Hayes v. Strickland, 112 Ga. App. 567, supra, is no longer tenable in view of the decisions by the Supreme Court in Yost v. Gunby, 221 Ga. 552 (145 SE2d 575), and Undercofler v. McLennan, 221 Ga. 613 (146 SE2d 635). In both of these cases the time for filing the brief of the appellant was extended by the court. Within the extended time, but not within the original 15 days, the appellant filed a brief and enumeration of errors. While the opinions do not disclose these facts, they do appear in the record. Both cases were dismissed by the Supreme Court because the enumeration of errors was not filed within the time required by the statute. The holding in these two cases necessarily determines that the language of § 14 of the Appellate Practice Act, as amended, requiring the filing of the enumeration of errors “at the time the brief is filed” means the enumeration of errors must be filed within the original time set by the rules of this court for filing briefs. There is no other provision in the Appellate Practice Act for extending the time for filing the enumeration of errors unless it be contained in § 6 of that Act (Code Ann. § 6-804), which reads as follows: “Any judge of the trial court, or any justice or judge of the appellate court to which the appeal is to be taken may, in his discretion, and without motion or notice to the other party, grant extensions of time for the filing of (a) notice of appeal, (b) notice of cross appeal, (c) transcript of the evidence and proceedings on appeal or in any other instance where filing of the transcript is required or permitted by law, (d) designation of record re*621ferred to under section 11 hereof; and (e) any other similar motion, proceeding or paper for which a filing time is prescribed; provided, however, no extension of time shall be granted for the filing of motions for new trial or for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and provided further, only one extension of time shall be granted for filing of notice of appeal and notice of cross appeal, and the extension shall not exceed the time otherwise allowed by these rules for the filing of the notices initially. Any application to any court, justice or judge for an extension must be made before expiration of the period for filing as originally prescribed or as extended by a permissible previous order. The order granting an extension of time shall be promptly filed with the clerk of the trial court, and the party securing it shall serve copies thereof on all other parties in the manner hereinafter prescribed.”
Assuming, without deciding, that this section applies to the filing of an enumeration of errors, it is apparent that any application thereunder must be made before the expiration of the period for filing as originally prescribed or as extended by a permissible previous order. (See Rule 12 of this court). Here the application was not so made. Irrespective of this, however, we think that § 13(b) of the Act as amended by the Act approved March 4, 1965, pp. 240, 241 (Code Ann. § 6-809), in view of the Supreme Court's construction of § 14, is controlling. This section provides that “No appeal shall be dismissed or its validity affected for any cause or consideration of any enumerated error refused, except for (1) failure to file notice of appeal within the time required as provided in this Act or within any extension of time granted hereunder; ... or (4) where no enumeration of the errors relied upon is filed by appellant with the clerk of the appellate court within the time prescribed by section 14 [Code Ann. § 6-809] hereof.” A failure to file a notice of appeal within the original time is not cause for dismissal if it is filed within any extension of time properly granted. No such provision as to filing within the extended time is made for the enumeration of errors. It follows, therefore, that “where no enumeration of errors relied upon is filed by appellant with the clerk of the appellate court within the time prescribed by § 14,” *622that is, the original time for filing the brief, the appeal must be dismissed. If that be true, then this court had no authority or jurisdiction to extend the time for filing the enumeration of errors, and the order so extending the time entered by a majority of the members of this court on December 20, 1965, is void; and none having been filed within the time required by the statute, the appeal must be dismissed. Windsor v. Southeastern Adjusters, Inc., 221 Ga. 329 (144 SE2d 739), holding that the appeal is incomplete where the enumeration of errors is not filed as required by § 14; Close v. Walker Land Corp., 221 Ga. 329 (2) (145 SE2d 245); Stanford v. Evans, Reed & Williams, 221 Ga. 331 (145 SE2d 504).
Section 10 of Ga. L. 1966, pp. 493, 500, which eliminated Item (4) of § 13(b) “authorizing” the dismissal of a case where no enumeration of errors is filed within the time prescribed by § 14, even if applicable to the present case, would not prevent a dismissal. Under the decision of the Supreme Court in Windsor v. Southeastern Adjusters, Inc., supra, holding that the filing of the enumeration of errors within the time prescribed by the statute is necessary to complete the appeal, it necessarily follows that the completion of the appeal is jurisdictional. Since the appeal here had not been completed in accordance with the requirements of the statute, this court has no jurisdiction thereof.
Even if this court should indulge in the assumption that the failure to file an enumeration of errors within such time is not jurisdictional, and that this court should acquiesce in the indirect legislative mandate that the case cannot be dismissed in view of the elimination of this ground of dismissal from the statute by the Act of 1966, we would then be faced with another legislative mandate in § 14 of the Act (which provides the time for filing the enumeration of errors) that “errors not enumerated according to this section shall be disregarded.” If we cannot dismiss, neither can we decide,—the case would therefore have to be affirmed.
I am authorized to state that Judge Frankum concurs in this dissent.