Houston County v. Lee Michelle Becham

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: February 5, 2015
• Docket: A15A0268
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ January 29, 2015

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A15A0268. HOUSTON COUNTY et al. v. LEE MICHELLE BECHAM.

Lee Michelle Becham filed a petition for certiorari to the superior court from the decision of Houston County and the Houston County Sheriff’s Department (collectively, “Houston County”) terminating her employment. The superior court entered the writ of certiorari, and in an order dated June 9, 2014, reversed the decision. Houston County filed a motion for reconsideration, which the superior court denied on June 20, 2014. Houston County filed a notice of appeal from this ruling on July 18, 2014. We lack jurisdiction for two reasons. First, under OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (1), “[a]ppeals from the decisions of the superior courts reviewing decisions of . . . local administrative agencies . . . by certiorari or de novo proceedings” must be made by filing an application for discretionary appeal. See Consolidated Government of Columbus v. Barwick, 274 Ga. 176, 177 (1) (549 SE2d 73) (2001). Accordingly, Houston County was required to file a discretionary application in order to appeal the superior court’s ruling. Second, the denial of a motion for reconsideration is not directly appealable, and the filing of such a motion does not extend the time for filing an appeal. See Bell v. Cohran, 244 Ga. App. 510, 511 (536 SE2d 187) (2000); Savage v. Newsome, 173 Ga. App. 271 (326 SE2d 5) (1985). Thus, even if Houston County had a right of direct appeal, its failure to file a notice of appeal within 30 days of the superior court’s June 9, 2014 order would deprive us of jurisdiction. See OCGA § 5-6-38 (a) (notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of appealable ruling). For these reasons, we lack jurisdiction over this appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 01/29/2015 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.