Amy L. Hillman v. Anna Bord

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ September 26, 2016

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A17A0101. HILLMAN et al. v. BORD et al.

The above-referenced appeal arose from a case involving, inter alia, a property

boundary and trespass dispute between the appellants and appellees. At trial, both the

appellants and appellees sought damages and equitable relief. But at the trial’s

conclusion, the jury rendered a defense verdict as to all of appellants’ claims and a

plaintiffs’ verdict as to all of appellees’ claims. In addition, the trial court denied both

parties’ claims for equitable relief.

On April 15, 2016, appellants filed a notice of appeal with this Court, and the

case was docketed on August 11, 2016. However, appellants have now filed a motion

to transfer this appeal to the Supreme Court of Georgia, arguing that although they

sought legal and equitable remedies below, the sole issue on appeal is their challenge

to the trial court’s denial of their request for equitable relief.1 Having considered

1 See Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. III (2) (“Unless otherwise provided by law, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction of . . . [a]ll equity cases.”). We note that under newly enacted OCGA § 15-3-3.1 (a) (2), beginning January 1, 2017, this Court shall have appellate jurisdiction over all equity cases. See Ga. L. 2016, Act. 626, § 3-1. appellants’ motion, this Court hereby grants it. Accordingly, we transfer the above-

referenced appeal to the Supreme Court of Georgia.2

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 09/26/2016 Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 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.

2 See Warren v. Bd. of Regents of Univ. Sys. of Ga., 272 Ga. 142, 145 (527 SE2d 563) (2000) (holding that “[f]or a matter to come within [the Supreme] Court’s equity jurisdiction, the lower court must have rendered a judgment based upon equitable principles, and that decision must be the primary issue on appeal”).