JAMES HIGGS v. LATISHA DEAR JACKSON

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ October 15, 2025

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A26A0268. JAMES HIGGS v. LATISHA DEAR JACKSON et al.

James Higgs filed this mandamus action against the judges who previously handled his child support and visitation case, Judges Latisha Dear Jackson and Yvette Miller. See Case Nos. A23A1175 (July 21, 2023), A23A1233 (Mar. 11, 2024), and A24A0677 (Sept. 12, 2024). The judges filed motions to dismiss the action, which the trial court granted. Higgs then filed both an application for discretionary appeal and a notice of appeal. This Court denied Higgs’s application for discretionary appeal. See Case No. A25D0474 (July 23, 2025). This is the direct appeal. While judgments and orders granting or refusing to grant mandamus are generally directly appealable, see OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (7), a party “is not entitled to another bite at the apple by way of a second appeal.” Jackson v. State, 273 Ga. 320, 320 (540 SE2d 612) (2001). This Court’s denial of Higgs’s application for discretionary appeal constitutes a decision on the merits. See Elrod v. Sunflower Meadows Dev., LLC, 322 Ga. App. 666, 670 (4) (745 SE2d 846) (2013) (“[W]hen this Court examines a request for a discretionary appeal, it acts in an error-correcting mode such that a denial of the application is on the merits, and the order denying the application is res judicata with respect to the substance of the requested review.”) (punctuation omitted). Thus, Higgs has no right to “a direct appeal [to] obtain a second review of those same claims.” Northwest Social & Civic Club v. Franklin, 276 Ga. 859, 860 (583 SE2d 858) (2003) (punctuation omitted); see Hook v. Bergen, 286 Ga. App. 258, 261 (1) (649 SE2d 313) (2007) (holding that party was estopped from seeking further judicial review of same order when discretionary application had been denied). Accordingly, this direct appeal is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 10/15/2025 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.