Mattie Moon v. United Group Enterprises, LLC

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: June 12, 2013
• Docket: A13A1707
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,__________________ June 12, 2013

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A13A1707. MATTIE MOON v. UNITED GROUP ENTERPRISES, LLC.

Mattie Moon filed this tort action against United Group Enterprises, LLC and Georgia Power Company, Inc. In an order entered on February 4, 2013, the trial court granted United Group Enterprises’s motion to dismiss. At that point, Georgia Power Company remained as a defendant in the case.1 On March 1, 2013, Moon filed a notice of appeal indicating her wish to appeal “the judgment of the trial court entered on the 1st day of February, 2013.” 2 We, however, lack jurisdiction. “In a case involving multiple parties or multiple claims, a decision adjudicating fewer than all the claims or the rights and liabilities of less than all the parties is not a final judgment.” (Punctuation omitted.) Johnson v. Hosp. Corp. of America, 192 Ga. App. 628, 629 (385 SE2d 731) (1989). Thus, the February 4 order was not a final judgment because it disposed of only one defendant, leaving the other defendant remaining in the case. To appeal the February 4 order, Orr had to comply with the interlocutory appeal procedure of OCGA § 5-6-34 (b). We note that the trial court dismissed Georgia Power Company by order entered March 21, 2013. That dismissal, however, does not vest this Court with jurisdiction. “Where the notice of appeal specifies that the appeal is taken from an order which is not appealable and where the appeal is in fact taken from such an

1 Georgia Power Company filed a motion to dismiss on February 12, 2013. 2 Because there was no order entered on February 1, we assume Moon was referring to the order entered on February 4, which was the only order the trial court had entered at that point. order, the appeal is subject to dismissal.” (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Richardson v. General Motors Corp., 221 Ga. App. 583 (472 SE2d 143) (1996). Here, the notice of appeal indicated that Moon sought to appeal the February 4 order, which was not a final, directly appealable order. The subsequent entry of the order dismissing Georgia Power does not alter this result because the appeal was interlocutory when Moon filed her notice of appeal. See Richardson, supra. Because Moon failed to follow the interlocutory appeal procedure, we lack jurisdiction to consider this appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 06/12/2013 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.