Court Opinion

ID: 9959873
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-12 20:04:51.932566+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:18:57.527886
License: Public Domain

Court of Appeals
of the State of Georgia

                                         ATLANTA,____________________
                                                  April 12, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A24A0748. BLAZYS et al. v. MCKNIGHT.

      In this auto accident case, plaintiffs Joseph Blazys and Romaine Blazys
submitted offers of settlement to Allstate Insurance Company, their
uninsured/underinsured motorist carrier, pursuant to OCGA § 9-11-68. In January
2023, after the jury verdict exceeded the threshold for fees to be awarded pursuant to
the statute, plaintiffs filed a motion seeking attorney fees and expenses of litigation.
The trial court denied plaintiffs’ motion in November 2023, and plaintiffs filed a
notice of appeal from the trial court’s order. For the reasons set forth below, however,
this appeal is dismissed without prejudice.
      Romaine Blazys died in February 2023, and consequently, the action was
suspended as to him upon his death. See Roberts v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, Nat. Assn.,
362 Ga. App. 375, 376 (868 SE2d 491) (2022) (“[O]n the death of a party, the action
is suspended[,] and the suspension has the same temporary effect on the rights of the
parties as though the suit actually abated. The action remains in abeyance and cannot
proceed until someone is substituted for the decedent.”) (citation and punctuation
omitted). “Until someone is properly substituted as a party after the action is thus
suspended, further proceedings in the case are void as to the decedent.” South DeKalb
Family Branch of YMCA, Inc. v. Frazier, 236 Ga. 903, 905 (225 SE2d 890) (1976).
Thus, the order on appeal was a nullity as to the decedent. Frazier, 236 Ga. at 906.
OCGA § 9-2-41 provides that upon the death of a plaintiff in a personal injury action,
the cause of action shall survive to the personal representative of the deceased, in this
case, Joseph Blazys. But Joseph Blazys has not yet been substituted as a party, as the
decedent’s personal representative, which renders the order nonfinal.
       “In a case involving multiple parties or multiple claims, a decision adjudicating
fewer than all the claims or the rights and liabilities of less than all the parties is not a
final judgment.” Johnson v. Hosp. Corp. of America, 192 Ga. App. 628, 629 (385 SE2d
731) (1989) (punctuation omitted). Such a ruling may be appealed only if the trial
court makes an express determination that there is no just reason for delay and an
express direction for the entry of judgment under OCGA § 9-11-54 (b) or the party
seeking to appeal complies with the interlocutory appeal requirements of OCGA § 5-
6-34 (b), including obtaining a certificate of immediate review. See id. Consequently,
the order on appeal is interlocutory and therefore is not directly appealable at this
juncture.
       The Georgia Constitution requires the appellate courts to dispose of every case
by the end of the next term after a case is docketed for hearing. Ga. Const. of 1983,
Art. VI, Sec. IX, Par. II. Because of this constitutional requirement, this Court cannot
suspend pending matters indefinitely. Accordingly, we remand this case to the trial
court, directing it to vacate its order as to Romaine Blazys, and upon the filing of a
substitution of parties in accordance with OCGA § 9-11-25 (a) (1) and the entry of
final judgment, the parties are entitled to a second appeal.

                                          Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia
                                            Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________
                                                                        04/12/2024
                                                     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.