SMITH INDUSTRIES, INC. v. BYERS ROAD, LLC

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: March 13, 2024
• Docket: A24A1074
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ March 13, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A24A1074. SMITH INDUSTRIES, INC. v. BYERS ROAD, LLC et al.

In 2019, the trial court granted the defendants’ motions to dismiss in this real property dispute. Thereafter, the defendants voluntarily dismissed their counterclaims and, as Smith Industries acknowledged in its “Notice of No-Objection to Defendants’ Dismissal of Counterclaims,” there was nothing further pending in the trial court as of December 2019. Smith Industries appealed, this Court affirmed the trial court’s order granting the motions to dismiss in an unpublished opinion, see Case No. A20A1105 (Nov. 2, 2020), and the case was remitted to the trial court. On December 22, 2023, the trial court entered an order directing the clerk of court to close the case file. Smith Industries then filed this appeal. To the extent that Smith Industries seeks to challenge the trial court’s 2019 dismissal of its action, it is not entitled to a second appeal. See OCGA § 9-11-60 (h) (“any ruling by the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals in a case shall be binding in all subsequent proceedings in that case in the lower court and in the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals as the case may be”); Ross v. State, 310 Ga. App. 326, 327 (713 SE2d 438) (2011) (“any issue that was raised and resolved in an earlier appeal is the law of the case and is binding on this Court”) (punctuation and footnote omitted). Because Smith Industries has already received appellate review of the trial court’s order of dismissal,“[f]urther proceedings on the case in this [C]ourt and in the trial court are precluded[.]” Pearle Optical of Monroeville v. Ga. State Bd. of Examiners in Optometry, 219 Ga. 856, 858 (136 SE2d 371) (1964); see also Echols v. State, 243 Ga. App. 775, 776 (534 SE2d 464) (2000) (“It is axiomatic that the same issue cannot be relitigated ad infinitum.”) (punctuation omitted). As Smith Industries is not entitled to a second appeal regarding the 2019 dismissal, and the trial court has issued no other appealable rulings since then, this case is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 03/13/2024 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.