Court Opinion

ID: 9609442
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:27:04.716464+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:50.616108
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Presiding Judge,
concurring specially.
I concur fully in Division 1 but not in Division 2. The posture of the appeal, and a consideration of who the appellants are vis-á-vis the proceedings below, render the remaining errors moot.
The appellants, employer Borden and its insurer, appealed from the order of the superior court, which was sitting as a court of last resort as a matter of right. Southeastern Aluminum Recycling v. Rayburn, 251 Ga. 365, 366 (306 SE2d 240) (1983). Their primary enumeration of error is that the court lacked jurisdiction to enter the *823order because, under OCGA § 34-9-105 (b), the time had expired for it to act. The majority agrees, and so do I.
That ends our review of that order; it was void ab initio. As noted in Synthetic Indus. v. Camp, 196 Ga. App. 637 (396 SE2d 518) (1990), it cannot serve as a basis for appeal to this court.1 The exception to that is an instance such as this one, where the jurisdiction of the court to enter it is the issue appealed from; it is the only way to raise that question. See Nelson u. Felton Pearson Co., 195 Ga. App. 92 (392 SE2d 274) (1990), rev’d on another ground, 260 Ga. 513 (397 SE2d 431) (1990). Of course, the challenge to jurisdiction must be timely, which it was. Application was made under OCGA § 5-6-35 (d) within 30 days of the order’s entry.2
Having decided that the court’s order was a nullity, the only decision which might be subject to further review is that of the board, derivatively, as the law has declared it to be “affirmed.” Appellants are not challenging that decision, for good reason; it is in their favor. None of their enumerations complain that the board erred in any way, nor would they. Appellants’ enumerations only challenge the superior court’s order. The remaining enumerations, relating to the merits of the court’s rulings, are moot because the court’s order was a nullity. They would only be reviewable if we concluded that the court’s order was not a nullity.
This court has held that “[a] case affirmed by operation of law pursuant to OCGA § 34-9-105 (b) can be appealed.” (Emphasis supplied.) Lanier v. Jim Brown Dev. Corp., 199 Ga. App. 255 (2) (404 SE2d 626) (1991). In that case, such an appeal was taken by the party against whom the board ruled, after that party’s application to this court was granted, and the court reviewed the merits.
In this case, however, the claimant, against whom the board ruled, did not apply to this court for review. He could have done so within 30 days after the board’s award became affirmed by operation of law. See Travelers Ins. Co. v. Adkins, 200 Ga. App. 278 (407 SE2d 775) (1991); Atlanta Family Restaurants v. Perry, 209 Ga. App. 581 (434 SE2d 140) (1993). He chose instead to rely on the void order of the superior court.
Thus, issues with respect to the board’s award may not be reached. We only granted permission to appeal from the order of the superior court, which was the only request made, and the notice of appeal filed by appellants Borden and its insurer covers only the su*824perior court’s order.
Decided April 1, 1994.
Murphy & Sibley, R. Napier Murphy, for appellants.
William R. Little, for appellee.
Although this court dismissed the appeal in Synthetic Indus., supra at 638, the proper course is to reverse and vacate the order of the superior court for lack of jurisdiction. Nelson, supra. Thus, I concur in Division 1 and in the judgment. That leaves the statutorily “affirmed” decision of the board extant.
Although the statute’s predecessor was in effect in AT&T Technologies v. Barrett, 195 Ga. App. 675 (395 SE2d 22) (1990), the procedural posture of the parties and the applicability of the principle are the same. The only difference is that the superior court is no longer directed to affirm the board’s decision; it is accomplished by the law itself.

 This writer concurred in the judgment only, in Synthetic Indus., because of the nature of the suggested legislative remedy. This writer should have taken the same course in Coronet Carpets v. Reynolds, 199 Ga. App. 383, 384 (405 SE2d 103) (1991).

 The application was also within the period for appeal of the “affirmed” board decision. OCGA §§ 34-9-105 (d) and 5-6-35 (d).