DARRYL ROBINSON v. GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: August 1, 2023
• Docket: A23A1396
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ August 01, 2023

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A23A1396. DARRYL ROBINSON v. GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS et al.

Darryl Robinson filed an application to proceed in a civil action under the Georgia Tort Claims Act, OCGA § 50-21-20 et seq., against the Georgia Department of Corrections and several prison officials. The trial court denied the application on August 8, 2022, determining that Robinson’s ante litem notice to the Risk Management Division of the Department of Administrative Services was untimely under OCGA § 50-21-26. On October 4, 2022, Robinson filed a motion for reconsideration, which Robinson states was denied on October 6, 2022.1 On November 7, 2022, Robinson filed a notice of appeal seeking review of “the order entered October 6, 2022 denying his negligence claim.” We, however, lack jurisdiction. First, because Robinson is presently incarcerated, this appeal is controlled by the Prison Litigation Reform Act, OCGA § 42-12-1 et seq., which requires any appeal in a civil case by a prisoner to come by discretionary application. See OCGA § 42-12-8. Moreover, a notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of entry of the order sought to be appealed. OCGA § 5-6-38 (a). “The proper and timely filing of a notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer jurisdiction upon an appellate

1 There is no order dated Oct. 6, 2022, in the record. However, there is a letter addressed to Robinson dated Oct. 6, 2022, from the trial court clerk’s office, regarding the motion for reconsideration, which states “Your request has been received and filed in our office. This case was denied filing. See attached Order. There is no Judge Assignment.” court.” Perlman v. Perlman, 318 Ga. App. 731, 739 (4) (734 SE2d 560) (2012) (punctuation omitted). Further, the filing of a motion for reconsideration does not extend the time for filing a notice of appeal, and the denial of a motion for reconsideration is not itself a directly appealable judgment. See State v. White, 282 Ga. 859, 860 (1) (655 SE2d 575) (2008); Bell v. Cohran, 244 Ga. App. 510, 511 (536 SE2d 187) (2000). Robinson filed his notice of appeal 91 days after the August 8, 2022 order denying his application to proceed in a civil action. Thus, the notice is untimely as to that order. And Robinson’s notice of appeal is invalid as to any order denying his motion for reconsideration. Accordingly, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 08/01/2023 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.