Audrey Tolson v. Hezekiah Sistrunk

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: September 25, 2014
• Docket: A15E0007
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ September 25, 2014

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A15E0007. TOLSON et al. v. SISTRUNK et al.

Attorney Audrey Tolson and her law firm seek emergency relief from this Court to stay enforcement of the trial court’s final order pending appeal. Tolson’s motion shows that, on September 18, 2014, the trial court entered an “Order Awarding Costs and Fees in Satisfaction of Attorneys’ Fees Lien.” In this order, the trial court resolved an attorney fee dispute between successive attorneys in the underlying medical malpractice action, and entered judgment against appellants and in favor of appellees. The order also instructed a third law firm, which was holding the disputed settlement proceeds in its IOLTA account, to disburse $248,805.60 to appellees within ten days of the order. Tolson and her law firm filed a Notice of Appeal on September 24, 2014. The same day, they filed this emergency motion, seeking to stay any enforcement of the judgment below, including the distribution of funds from the third-party law firm, during pendency of the appeal. Under OCGA § 5-6-46 (a), “[i]n civil cases, the notice of appeal filed as provided in Code Sections 5-6-37 and 5-6-38 shall serve as supersedeas upon payment of all costs in the trial court by the appellant.” And “[t]he general rule is that a supersedeas suspends all further proceedings in the suit in which the judgment superseded is rendered, such as are based upon and relate to the carrying into effect of that judgment. Under this rule the supersedeas, during its pendency, prevents any steps to enforce or carry into effect the judgment, such as issuing an execution based thereon.” (Citation and punctuation omitted; emphasis supplied.) Bank South v. Roswell Jeep Eagle, 200 Ga. App. 489, 491 (3) (408 SE2d 503) (1991). If appellants have paid all costs below, they do not need emergency relief from this Court because an automatic stay is already in place. If they have not paid the costs below, we decline to grant them any relief because they have not complied with OCGA § 5-6-46. Accordingly, appellants’ emergency motion for a stay is hereby DENIED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 09/25/2014 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.