Andrew W. Bell v. Karli Swift

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: March 26, 2025
• Docket: A25D0316
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ March 26, 2025

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A25D0316. ANDREW W. BELL et al. v. KARLI SWIFT et al.

On December 3, 2024, DeKalb County held a runoff election for the position of its District 3 Commissioner. Andrew Bell filed a petition to contest the election results. On January 17, 2025, the trial court dismissed Bell’s petition. Bell filed a timely application for discretionary review in the Supreme Court of Georgia, which transferred the matter to this Court. See Case No. S25D0637 (Feb. 13, 2025). Under OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (1), a party may file a direct appeal from “[a]ll final judgments, that is to say, where the case is no longer pending in the court below, except as provided in Code Section 5-6-35.” It does not appear that any provision of OCGA § 5-6-35, the discretionary appeal statute, applies here. Rather, the trial court’s dismissal of Bell’s petition may be appealed directly.1 We will grant an otherwise timely application for discretionary appeal if the lower court’s order is subject to direct appeal. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (j). Accordingly, this application is hereby GRANTED. Bell shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal with the trial court if they have not already done so. The

1 In their response, the defendants concede that Bell is entitled to a direct appeal. clerk of the trial court is DIRECTED to include a copy of this order in the record transmitted to the Court of Appeals.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 03/26/2025 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.