Riverdale Land Group, LLC v. Clayton County, Georgia

CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMarch 5, 2020
DocketA19A2114
StatusPublished

This text of Riverdale Land Group, LLC v. Clayton County, Georgia (Riverdale Land Group, LLC v. Clayton County, Georgia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Riverdale Land Group, LLC v. Clayton County, Georgia, (Ga. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

THIRD DIVISION DILLARD, P. J., GOBEIL and HODGES, 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. http://www.gaappeals.us/rules

February 27, 2020

In the Court of Appeals of Georgia A19A2114. RIVERDALE LAND GROUP, LLC et al. v. CLAYTON COUNTY, GEORGIA et al.

DILLARD, Presiding Judge.

Riverdale Land Group, LLC1 appeals the trial court’s dismissal of its complaint

against the Board of Commissioners of Clayton County, Georgia, and Clayton

County, Georgia, in which it challenged the Board’s denial of RLG’s application for

a conditional-use permit related to its proposed construction of a convenience store

and gas station. Specifically, the trial court dismissed RLG’s complaint on the basis

that filing a petition for a writ of certiorari was the only way it could seek review of

1 Riverdale Land Group’s manager, Ayaz Ali, is also an appellant in this case. We refer to Riverdale Land Group and Ayaz Ali collectively throughout this opinion as “RLG.” the Board’s decision. RLG argues that the trial court erred in doing so, but for the

reasons set forth infra, we affirm.

The relevant facts are brief and undisputed.2 RLG owns real property consisting

of 2.376 acres located in Clayton County, and it is zoned as “General Business” under

a county zoning ordinance. RLG sought to construct a gas station on the property,

which required it to obtain a conditional-use permit. To that end, on December 5,

2017, RLG submitted an application to the Board, requesting such a permit. But on

July 17, 2018, the Board denied RLG’s application, which prevented it from

constructing the gas station.

Thereafter, RLG filed a complaint in the Superior Court of Clayton County

that, in relevant part, raised several constitutional challenges to the County’s zoning

ordinances and requested mandamus relief. Specifically, RLG sought an order

requiring the County to approve its application for a conditional-use permit. The

County filed a response, as well as a motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of

2 Because this is an appeal from the grant of a motion to dismiss, the facts set forth in this opinion are gleaned primarily from RLG’s complaint. See Republic Title Co., LLC v. Andrews, 347 Ga. App. 463, 464 (819 SE2d 889) (2018) (“In ruling on a motion to dismiss, the trial court must accept as true all well-[pleaded] material allegations in the complaint and must resolve any doubts in favor of the plaintiff . . . .” (punctuation omitted)).

2 subject-matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be

granted. In doing so, the County argued, inter alia, that RLG is not entitled to

mandamus relief because it has an adequate remedy at law—i.e. filing a writ of

certiorari in the superior court—and its failure to seek certiorari review invalidates

its remaining constitutional claims. Following additional responsive pleadings, the

trial court held a hearing on the matter, and ultimately granted the County’s motion

to dismiss. In its order, the court concluded that the Board’s decision on RLG’s

application for a conditional-use permit must be reviewed via a petition for

certiorari—rather than by filing a complaint for mandamus relief—because the

Board’s decision-making process was judicial in nature. The court also determined

that RLG’s constitutional claims were barred and waived due to its failure to file a

such a petition. This appeal follows.

In ruling on a motion to dismiss, the trial court must “accept as true all

well-[pleaded] material allegations in the complaint and must resolve any doubts in

favor of the plaintiff.”3 Importantly, when a question of law is at issue, as here, we

3 Roberson v. Northrup, 302 Ga. App. 405, 405 (691 SE2d 547) (2010) (punctuation omitted).

3 “owe no deference to the trial court’s ruling and apply the ‘plain legal error’ standard

of review.”4 With these guiding principles in mind, we turn to RLG’s claims of error.

1. RLG argues that the trial court erred in dismissing its claim for mandamus

relief based on a finding that the County’s denial of its application for a conditional-

use permit was “akin to a judicial act” such that it must be challenged through the

certiorari process. We disagree.

OCGA § 5-4-1 (a) provides: “The writ of certiorari shall lie for the correction

of errors committed by any inferior judicatory or any person exercising judicial

powers, including the judge of the probate court, except in cases touching the probate

of wills, granting letters testamentary, and of administration.” On the other hand,

certiorari is not an appropriate remedy to “review or obtain relief from the judgment,

decision or action of an inferior judicatory or body rendered in the exercise of

legislative, executive, or ministerial functions, as opposed to judicial or quasi-judicial

powers.”5 Furthermore, the Supreme Court of Georgia has consistently held

that judicial and quasi-judicial decisions made by city and county governing authorities may be appealed to the superior court by certiorari

4 Suarez v. Halbert, 246 Ga. App. 822, 824 (1) (543 SE2d 733) (2000). 5 City of Cumming v. Flowers, 300 Ga. 820, 823 (3) (797 SE2d 846) (2017).

4 pursuant to this state certiorari statute—with no reference to whether the local ordinance also provides for certiorari review.6

Simply put, when an official or agency’s action is “subject to review by certiorari, the

writ of mandamus is unavailable.”7 We must decide, then, whether the County’s

denial of RLG’s application for a conditional-use permit was judicial or quasi-judicial

in nature. If so, certiorari relief was available to RLG under OCGA § 5-4-1 (a) and

mandamus relief was not an option.

Recently, in Housing Authority of City of Augusta v. Gould,8 the Supreme

Court of Georgia acknowledged that “the determination of what is a ministerial or

administrative duty and what is a judicial function is often a matter of extreme

6 Id. at 827 (5) (a); see Hous. Auth. of City of Augusta v. Gould, 305 Ga. 545, 550 (2) (826 SE2d 107) (2019) (“Long settled precedents of this Court establish that the writ runs not only to judicial proceedings in inferior courts, but also to quasi-judicial proceedings before agencies of local government.”). 7 Bibb Cty. v. Monroe Cty., 294 Ga. 730, 734 (2) (a) (755 SE2d 760) (2014); see Blalock v. Cartwright, 300 Ga. 884, 886 (II) (799 SE2d 225) (2017) (“[When] a litigant seeks to compel some action that could be obtained by pursuing certiorari in superior court or seeking review by an administrative agency, mandamus will not lie.”); Ga. Lottery Corp. v. 1100 Shorter Dollar, LLC, 351 Ga. App. 688, 689 (832 SE2d 665) (2019) (“[I]f there be a specific remedy by certiorari, the right of mandamus will not lie.” (punctuation omitted)). 8 305 Ga. 545 (826 SE2d 107) (2019).

5 difficulty.”9 Nevertheless, our Supreme Court provided guidance for making such a

determination, explaining that there are “three essential characteristics of a

quasi-judicial act.”10 First, a quasi-judicial act occurs in situations when “all parties

are as a matter of right entitled to notice and to a hearing, with the opportunity

afforded to present evidence under judicial forms of procedure.”11 Second, a

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