Rufus Beddingfield v. Ken Smith

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: June 27, 2025
• Docket: A25D0454
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ June 27, 2025

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A25D0454. RUFUS BEDDINGFIELD v. KEN SMITH.

Ken Smith brought this dispossessory action in magistrate court against Rufus Beddingfield. The magistrate court ruled in favor of Smith and granted him a writ of possession, and Beddingfield filed a petition for review in superior court. On October 23, 2024, the superior court entered judgment in favor of Smith and granted him a writ of possession. The following day, the superior court filed a final disposition form and closed the case. Subsequently, Beddingfield filed a motion to join a new party and a motion for summary judgment. On March 3, 2025, the superior court issued an order denying Beddingfield’s motions. This Court dismissed Beddingfield’s direct appeal of the superior court’s order on the basis that the case was subject to the discretionary appeals procedure. Case No. A25A1811 (June 12, 2025); see also OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (1), (b); Bullock v. Sand, 260 Ga. App. 874, 875 (581 SE2d 333) (2003). On June 20, 2025, Beddingfield filed the instant application for discretionary review of the superior court’s order. We lack jurisdiction for two reasons. First, the application is untimely, as it was filed 109 days after the superior court’s order. See Stubbs v. Local Homes, ___ Ga. App. ___, ___ (915 SE2d 91), Case No. A25A0036, slip op. at 3-8 (Apr. 22, 2025) (while applications for discretionary review generally may be filed within 30 days of entry of the order sought to be appealed, an application in a dispossessory proceeding must be filed within 7 days of the order on appeal). Second, the application essentially seeks an impermissible second appeal of the superior court’s order. See Massey v. Massey, 294 Ga. 163, 165 (2) (751 SE2d 330) (2013) (“Where a party puts the machinery of immediate appellate review into motion, yet commits a procedural default fatal to his appeal, that party is foreclosed from thereafter resubmitting the matter for review on appeal. This rule is sometimes framed in terms of res judicata or law of the case, but the appellate issue is more fundamental; a party is not entitled to a second appeal from a single order.”) (citation and punctuation omitted). Accordingly, this application is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 06/27/2025 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.