PROFESSIONAL ADJUSTING & CONSULTING SERVICE, LLC v. ADELL RAYMOND

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: January 31, 2024
• Docket: A24A0575
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ January 31, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A24A0575. PROFESSIONAL ADJUSTING & CONSULTING SERVICE, LLC et al. v. ADELL RAYMOND et al.

For the following reasons, this case is REMANDED as prematurely docketed.

This case was docketed on November 9, 2023.1 Thereafter, Appellants repeatedly sought time extensions to file and/or amend their brief, citing, among other things, a need for the trial court to determine and supplement the appellate record. Such motions were filed on November 21, 2023; December 8, 2023; and January 12, 2024. Meanwhile, Appellants filed in the trial court a Motion To Supplement the Record on Appeal. Although Appellants filed in this Court a brief “out of an abundance of caution because their [December 8, 2023 motion for a time extension to file brief] . . . had not [yet] been ruled upon,” Appellants followed-up in this Court most recently with a Motion for Extension of Time to File Amended Brief, advising that the trial court had set a hearing on the motion to supplement initially for January 11, 2024, but that the trial court subsequently rescheduled such hearing to February 12, 2024. In their Motion for Extension of Time to File Amended Brief, Appellants maintain that the “decision of the trial court as to whether the record on appeal will be supplemented will have a direct impact on the evidence to be considered by this

1 Pursuant to Georgia Court of Appeals Rule 23, Appellants’ deadline to file their brief was November 29, 2023.

1 Court in the instant case.” Hence, “Appellants ask this Court for a further extension of the briefing schedule in the instant appeal to accommodate the rescheduled hearing of that motion.” Notably, “Appellants respectfully request an extension of time to file their amended brief . . . to a date on or after February 24, 2024.” Due to the requirements of the Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VI, Sec. IX, Para. II, however, this Court cannot grant open-ended time extensions. Moreover, in light of the chronology outlined above, and in light of the indeterminate amount of time it will take to ascertain – and, if necessary, to complete – the appellate record,2 it appears that this case was prematurely docketed. Therefore, this appeal is hereby REMANDED to the trial court for purposes of resolving the above-mentioned issues with the appellate record. See generally OCGA § 5-6-41 (f). Upon such resolution, this case may be transmitted back to this Court for re-docketing.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 01/31/2024 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.

2 Appellants’ counsel represents in Appellants’ Motion for Extension of Time to File Amended Brief that “[he] has attempted to confer with counsel for Appellees regarding the relief requested herein on two separate occasions, but has been unable to do so.”