Michaelell Z. Darling v. Mjd Management Group

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: January 23, 2014
• Docket: A14A0621
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,__________________ January 23, 2014

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A14A0621. MICHAELELL Z. DARLING v. MJD MANAGEMENT GROUP.

Michaelell Darling filed a notice of appeal from two dispossessory actions that began in magistrate court. In the first, the magistrate court entered two orders on August 27, 2013, one of which issued a $5,000 judgment in Darling’s favor, while the other dismissed the action, along with Darling’s counterclaim. MJD Management filed a second dispossessory action on September 6, 2013, and the magistrate court again entered judgment in Darling’s favor on September 17, 2013. MJD Management moved to vacate the order, and on September 26, 2013, the magistrate court granted the motion, vacating its order and scheduling a new trial. On October 8, 2013, the magistrate court transferred the second case to state court because Darling’s counterclaim exceeded its jurisdictional limits. In the interim, Darling filed a notice of appeal to this Court, listing the magistrate court case numbers from both cases. Although it is difficult to determine which order Darling seeks to appeal, “[t]he only avenue of appeal available from [a] magistrate court judgment is provided by OCGA § 15-10-41 (b) (1), which allows for a de novo appeal to the state or superior court.” Handler v. Hulsey, 199 Ga. App. 751 (406 SE2d 225) (1991). This Court may only address magistrate court matters that already have been reviewed by the state or superior court. See id.; Westwind Corp. v. Washington Federal Savings & Loan Assn., 195 Ga. App. 411 (1) (393 SE2d 479) (1990). The Georgia Constitution requires that “[a]ny court shall transfer to the appropriate court in the state any civil case in which it determines that jurisdiction or venue lies elsewhere.” See Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. I, Par. VIII; Bosma v. Gunter, 258 Ga. 664 (373 SE2d 368) (1988). Accordingly, this appeal is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Fulton County State Court.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 01/23/2014 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.