Court Opinion

ID: 9961252
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-18 15:08:11.587391+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:20:31.965541
License: Public Domain

Court of Appeals
of the State of Georgia

                                        ATLANTA,____________________
                                                 April 18, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A24A1146. CORDARRIEL GREEN v. HOMETOWN COMMUNITIES
    PROPERTY MANAGEMENT.

      Hometown Communities Property Management filed a dispossessory action
against Cordarriel Green in magistrate court. After the magistrate court entered
judgment in favor of Hometown, Green appealed to superior court, which also ruled
in favor of Hometown. On May 24, 2021, the superior court entered a “Final Order,”
ordering the clerk to return to Green funds he had paid into the court registry and
giving Green ten days to remove his mobile home from the premises at issue. On June
22, 2021, Green filed a notice of appeal to this Court. We lack jurisdiction.
      “[A]ppeals from decisions of the superior courts reviewing decisions of lower
courts by certiorari or de novo proceedings shall be by application for discretionary
appeal.” Bullock v. Sand, 260 Ga. App. 874, 875 (581 SE2d 333) (2003) (punctuation
omitted); accord OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (1). “Compliance with the discretionary appeals
procedure is jurisdictional.” Smoak v. Dept. of Human Resources, 221 Ga. App. 257,
257 (471 SE2d 60) (1996). Green’s failure to follow the proper procedure deprives us
of jurisdiction over this appeal.
      Furthermore, even if a direct appeal were proper here, this appeal is untimely.
While a notice of appeal generally may be filed within 30 days of entry of the order on
appeal, see OCGA § 5-6-38 (a), appeals in dispossessory actions must be filed within
7 days of the date the judgment was entered. See OCGA § 44-7-56 (2022)1; Radio

      1
        OCGA § 44-7-56 was amended in 2022. Ga. L. 2022, pp. 767, 797, § 2-35. The
prior version of the statue applies here because the amended version applies only to
Sandy Springs v. Allen Road Joint Venture, 311 Ga. App. 334, 335-336 (715 SE2d 752)
(2011); Ray M. Wright, Inc. v. Jones, 239 Ga. App. 521, 522-523 (521 SE2d 456) (1999).
Green’s appeal was untimely filed 29 days after the superior court’s order was
entered.
      For the above reasons, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED for lack of
jurisdiction.

                                       Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia
                                         Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________
                                                                     04/18/2024
                                                  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.

petitions for review filed in superior or state court on or after July 1, 2023. Ga. L.
2022, pp. 767, 801, § 3-1.