Carpet South, Inc. v. the Forest at Columbia, Lp D/B/A Forest at Columbia Apartments

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: November 19, 2013
• Docket: A14D0103
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,__________________ November 19, 2013

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A14D0103. CARPET SOUTH, INC. v. THE FOREST AT COLUMBIA, LP d/b/a/ FOREST AT COLUMBIA APARTMENTS et al.

On July 17, 2013, the trial court entered default judgment in favor of Carpet South, Inc., awarding Carpet South approximately $2,000 in damages, but refusing to award attorney fees or other expenses. In fact, the trial court specifically struck through the line item for attorney fees that was included in the proposed default judgment submitted by Carpet South’s attorney. Carpet South filed a motion for reconsideration regarding the issue of attorney fees, and the trial court denied this motion on October 7, 2013. On October 25, 2013, Carpet South filed this application for discretionary appeal, apparently seeking review of the order denying its motion for reconsideration. We lack jurisdiction. Although an applicant may file a discretionary application to challenge a judgment awarded for $10,000 or less, the application must be filed within 30 days of the order appealed from. OCGA §§ 5-6-35 (a) (6) and (d). The trial court entered the default judgment in this case on July 17, 2013, and, therefore, Carpet South’s October 25, 2013 application is untimely as to this order. The motion for reconsideration did not extend the time for filing a discretionary application from the default judgment. Cheeley-Towns v. Rapid Group, 212 Ga. App. 183 (441 SE2d 452) (1994); Harris v. State, 278 Ga. 280 282 n.3 (600 SE2d 592) (2004) (“a motion to reconsider does not toll the time for filing an application to appeal.”). And the denial of Carpet South’s motion for reconsideration is not appealable in its own right. See Bell v. Cohran, 244 Ga. App. 510, 511 (536 SE2d 187) (2000). For these reasons, we lack jurisdiction over this discretionary application, which is hereby DISMISSED. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 11/19/2013 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.