Hancock Road Capital Investments, LLC F/K/A the Village at Towne Lake, Inc. v. Cherokee County, Georgia

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: August 14, 2015
• Docket: A15I0257
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ August 14, 2015

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A15D0510, A15I0257. HANCOCK ROAD CAPITAL INVESTMENTS, LLC v. CHEROKEE COUNTY, GEORGIA.

The trial court dismissed Hancock Road Capital Investments, LLC’s complaint against Cherokee County seeking a property tax refund. Hancock Road appealed that ruling; the appeal is pending here as Case No. A15A1504. The trial court later granted Cherokee County’s motion for attorney fees under OCGA § 9-15-14. Cherokee County has filed both a discretionary application (Case No. A15D0510) and an interlocutory application (Case No. A15I0257) from the fee award. Although an application for discretionary appeal ordinarily is required to appeal a trial court’s ruling on OCGA § 9-15-14 attorney fees, no such application is needed when a direct appeal is pending from the underlying judgment. See Haggard v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia, 257 Ga. 524, 526 (4) (a) (360 SE2d 566) (1987). Thus, because a direct appeal is pending in the underlying case, no application is required. This Court will grant an otherwise timely discretionary application pursuant to OCGA § 5-6-35 (j) if the order is subject to direct appeal and the applicant has not timely filed a notice of appeal. As it does not appear that Hancock Road has filed a notice of appeal, its application for discretionary appeal in Case No. A15D0510 is hereby GRANTED. Hancock Road shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal with the trial court, if it has not already done so. The trial court is instructed to include a copy of this order in the record transmitted to this Court. Hancock Road’s application for interlocutory appeal in Case No. A15I0259 is DISMISSED as superfluous. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 08/14/2015 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.