James P. Sletteland v. Claudia De Araujo Vianna

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: October 25, 2016
• Docket: A17E0009
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ October 25, 2016

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A17E0009. SLETTELAND v. DE ARAUJO VIANNA.

James P. Sletteland has filed an emergency motion to stay the trial set to begin in this case on November 1, 2016 and for interlocutory review of the trial court’s order denying various discovery and scheduling motions. With respect to the motion for emergency relief, pursuant to Court of Appeals Rule 40 (b), we “may issue such orders or give such direction to the trial court as may be necessary to preserve jurisdiction of an appeal or to prevent the contested issue from becoming moot. This power shall be exercised sparingly. Generally, no order shall be made or direction given in an appeal until it has been docketed in this Court.” Sletteland has not shown that a Rule 40 (b) order is necessary to prevent an appeal from becoming moot. Accordingly, his emergency motion is DENIED. Because this action remains pending below, Sletteland was required to use the interlocutory appeal procedures – including obtaining a certificate of immediate review from the trial court – to appeal the court’s discovery and scheduling orders. See OCGA § 5-6-34 (b); Boyd v. State, 191 Ga. App. 435 (383 SE2d 906) (1989). If a certificate of immediate review is not entered within ten days of entry of the order at issue, the party seeking review must wait until the final judgment to appeal. See OCGA § 5-6-34 (b); Wilcher v. Confederate Packaging, Inc., 287 Ga. App. 451, 452 (1) (651 SE2d 790) (2007) (“A certificate of immediate review of a court order must be signed by the trial judge and filed with the clerk of the trial court within ten days of the entry of the interlocutory order sought to be appealed.”). Because there is no indication that Sletteland obtained a timely certificate of immediate review, we lack jurisdiction over his “Petition for Leave to Appeal,” which is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 10/25/2016 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.