Southern Trust Insurance Company v. Mountain Express Oil Company

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: March 15, 2018
• Docket: A18I0143
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ March 15, 2018

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A18I0143. SOUTHERN TRUST INSURANCE COMPANY v. MOUNTAIN EXPRESS OIL COMPANY.

Mountain Express Oil Company sought reimbursement of legal fees from Southern Trust Insurance Company. The parties filed cross motions for summary judgment. On February 15, 2018, the trial court entered an order granting Mountain Express’s motion for partial summary judgment and denying Southern Trust’s motion. Southern Trust seeks interlocutory review of this ruling. As recognized by Southern Trust, the grant of partial summary judgment may be directly appealed. See OCGA § 9-11-56 (h); Olympic Dev. Group, Inc. v. American Druggists’ Ins. Co., 175 Ga. App. 425 (1) (333 SE2d 622) (1985). Accordingly, the order in this case is subject to direct appeal. Moreover, all rulings within that order and any other non-final rulings entered in the case may also be raised as part of such a direct appeal. See OCGA § 5-6-34 (d); Southeast Ceramics v. Klem, 246 Ga. 294, 295 (1) (271 SE2d 199) (1980). “This Court will grant a timely application for interlocutory review if the order complained of is subject to direct appeal and the applicants have not otherwise filed a notice of appeal.” Spivey v. Hembree, 268 Ga. App. 485, 486, n. 1 (602 SE2d 246) (2004). Here, however, Southern Trust contends it filed a notice of appeal contemporaneously with this application. Under these circumstances, this application is hereby DISMISSED as superfluous.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 03/15/2018 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.