Relanda Sanders v. Suntrust Mortgage, Inc.

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: May 20, 2015
• Docket: A15D0379
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ May 18, 2015

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A15D0379. RELANDA SANDERS v. SUNTRUST MORTGAGE, INC.

On March 26, 2015, Relanda Sanders – represented by attorney Grady A. Roberts, III – filed Application No. A15D0334, seeking discretionary review of the superior court’s order dismissing her appeal from magistrate court in this dispossessory action. In her application brief, Sanders argued that the superior court had erred by ruling that she was bound by a prior consent agreement and that the superior court appeal was a de novo appeal that divested the magistrate court of jurisdiction. We denied Application No. A15D0334 on the merits, and we also denied Sanders’s subsequent motion for reconsideration. On April 21, 2015, the superior court issued a writ of possession in favor of Suntrust Mortgage. Two days later, Sanders – again represented by attorney Roberts – filed this application for discretionary appeal seeking review of that writ. Her brief in this application is completely identical to the one she submitted with Application No. A15D0334, with the sole exception that she changed the date of the superior court order she wishes to appeal to reflect the date of the writ of possession. “It is axiomatic that the same issue cannot be relitigated ad infinitum. The same is true of appeals of the same issue on the same grounds.” Echols v. State, 243 Ga. App. 775, 776 (534 SE2d 464) (2000); see also Jordan v. State, 253 Ga. App. 510, 511 (2) (559 SE2d 528) (2002). Our denial of Application No. A15D0334 was an adjudication on the merits. See Northwest Social & Civic Club v. Franklin, 276 Ga. 859, 860 (583 SE2d 858) (2003); Hook v. Bergen, 286 Ga. App. 258, 261 (1) (649 SE2d 313) (2007). That adjudication is binding as the law of the case and bars further judicial review of the issues Sanders seeks to raise here. See Daiss v. Bennett, 286 Ga. App. 108, 109 (1) (648 SE2d 462) (2007). Accordingly, this application is hereby DISMISSED. Further, given our previous denial of Sanders’s identically-worded application, attorney Roberts cannot reasonably have believed that we would grant this one. We therefore exercise our authority under Court of Appeals Rule 15 (b) to assess a frivolous appeal penalty in the maximum amount of $2,500 against attorney Grady A. Roberts, III, and Roberts Law, LLC, jointly and severally, for the filing of this frivolous application. This penalty is not assessed against Roberts’s client, Relanda Sanders. Upon receipt of this order, the superior court is DIRECTED to enter judgment in favor of SunTrust Mortgage, Inc. in the amount of $2,500 against Sanders’s counsel Grady A. Roberts, III, and Roberts Law, LLC.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 05/18/2015 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.