John A. Maycann, III v. Sonya Crane, as of the Estate of Donald Crane

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: January 22, 2026
• Docket: A25A1565
• Status: Published

Opinion

FIFTH DIVISION MCFADDEN, P. J., HODGES and PIPKIN, JJ.

NOTICE: Motions for reconsideration must be physically received in our clerk’s office within ten days of the date of decision to be deemed timely filed. https://www.gaappeals.us/rules

January 22, 2026

In the Court of Appeals of Georgia A25A1565. MAYCANN v. CRANE.

MCFADDEN, Presiding Judge.

John A. Maycann III appeals from the order dismissing without prejudice his

personal injury action. Maycann argues that the trial court erred by holding that he

could not amend his complaint to add Sonya Crane as a defendant without the

permission of the court. We hold that because the initial complaint was never served

on the original defendants, no action was pending at the time the complaint was

amended; so leave of court was not required to add Sonya Crane as a defendant. We

therefore vacate the order dismissing the complaint and remand for the trial court to

consider the other grounds Sonya Crane raised in her motion to dismiss. The facts are largely undisputed. The record shows that on June 16, 2022,

Maycann filed a complaint against Donald Crane and Wanda Crane for injuries he

sustained on June 16, 2020. Maycann alleged that Donald Crane was driving a car

owned by Wanda Crane when he struck Maycann as he was walking along the

shoulder of a road. When Maycann filed the lawsuit, however, both Donald Crane and

Wanda Crane had died, so neither was ever served.

On March 28, 2023, Maycann filed an amended complaint, dropping Donald

Crane and Wanda Crane as defendants and instead naming as the defendant Sonya

Crane as executor of the estate of Donald Crane. Sonya Crane filed a special

appearance answer and a motion to dismiss, asserting, among other things, that she

had not properly been added as a party. The trial court granted the motion, dismissed

the case without prejudice, and Maycann filed this appeal.

We vacate and remand. Because the initial complaint was never served, the

amended complaint was effectively a new suit.

For an additional party to be added to an existing suit by amendment pursuant to OCGA § 9-11-15 (a), leave of court must first be sought and obtained pursuant to OCGA § 9-11-21. Here, however, no suit or action was pending at the time the complaint was amended to add [Sonya Crane] as a party because no complaint had been served. Thus,

2 leave of court was not required to include [Sonya Crane] as a party defendant in the amended complaint, which . . . functioned as an original complaint.

Nw. Ga. Contracting v. St. Germain, 350 Ga. App. 568, 570 (2) (829 SE2d 814) (2019)

(citaitons and footnote omitted). See also Rowe v. Citizens & S. Nat’l Bank, 129 Ga.

App. 251, 253-254 (1973) (199 SE2d 319) (“action against a defendant who died before

being served was a nullity and the order making his administrator a defendant was in

effect the commencement of a new suit[,]” rather than the substitution of a party

under the predecessor to OCGA § 9-11-25, which concerns substitution of parties

after death).

So we vacate the trial court’s order dismissing the action for failure to properly

add Sonya Crane as a defendant, and we remand the case for the trial court to address

the other grounds Sonya Crane raised in her motion to dismiss. We do not reach

Maycann’s other arguments.

Judgment vacated and case remanded. Hodges and Pipkin, JJ., concur.