Court Opinion

ID: 9578626
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:46:53.293277+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:03.460631
License: Public Domain

Blackburn, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
The juvenile courts of this state have the authority to entertain motions for new trial. I do not agree with the majority that this court lacks appellate jurisdiction to consider the question presented herein because this question involves the application of a clear and unambiguous constitutional provision and statute to a given set of facts, rather than an actual construction of the constitutional provision as the majority maintains. As this court has previously held in Oswell v. State, 181 Ga. App. 35 (351 SE2d 221) (1986), we have the authority to address such an issue.
Under our state’s constitution, “[e]ach superior court, state court, and other courts of record may grant new trials on legal grounds.” Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. I, Par. IV. “The juvenile court is a court *7of record. . . .” OCGA § 15-11-65 (b). Hence, our juvenile courts have the authority to entertain and grant motions for new trial based upon errors of law.
Decided July 14, 1994.
Suzan G. Littlefield, Edwards & McLeod, Jennifer McLeod, for appellant.
Barry H. Wood, for appellee.
In recent decisions of this court, beginning with In the Interest of J. O., 191 Ga. App. 521 (382 SE2d 214) (1989), which was subsequently relied upon in both In the Interest of M. A. L., 202 Ga. App. 768 (415 SE2d 649) (1992), cert. denied, 202 Ga. App. 906 (1992), and In the Interest of C. M., 205 Ga. App. 543 (423 SE2d 280) (1992), cert. denied, 205 Ga. App. 900 (1993), we held that juvenile courts are without power to grant motions for new trial based upon the language contained in OCGA § 5-5-1, wherein the legislature expressly granted this power to “superior, state, and city courts.” The issue of the juvenile court’s constitutional authority as a court of record to grant motions for new trial was not raised or addressed in the cases cited.
Upon consideration of Art. VI, Sec. I, Par. IV, of the Constitution of Georgia of 1983, I conclude that the juvenile courts of this state have the authority to consider motions for new trials for the correction of errors of law. To the extent that our prior decisions in In the Interest of J. O., In the Interest of M. A. L., and In the Interest of C. M., could be interpreted in a manner inconsistent with this holding, they should be overruled.
Accordingly, the juvenile court’s denial of T. A. W.’s motion for new trial should be reversed, and the case should be remanded to that court for consideration of the merits of the motion.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge McMurray joins in this dissent.