Spratt Howard v. Marty Allen, Warden

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: September 15, 2017
• Docket: A18A0219
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ September 15, 2017

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A18A0219. SPRATT HOWARD v. MARTY ALLEN, WARDEN.

Spratt Howard seeks appellate review of the trial court’s order dismissing his petition for writ of mandamus and request to proceed in forma pauperis.1 We lack jurisdiction for two reasons. First, while judgments and orders granting or refusing to grant mandamus are generally directly appealable, see OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (7), under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, any appeal in a civil case that was initiated by a prisoner must come by discretionary application. See OCGA § 42-12-8; Jones v. Townsend, 267 Ga. 489 (480 SE2d 24) (1997). Howard is thus not entitled to a direct appeal from the trial court’s ruling. Second, Howard has already filed an application for discretionary appeal from the trial court’s ruling, which this Court denied on August 7, 2017. See Case Number A17D0548. Because that denial was an adjudication on the merits, the doctrine of res judicata bars this direct appeal. See Northwest Social & Civic Club, Inc. v. Franklin, 276 Ga. 859, 860 (583 SE2d 858) (2003); Hook v. Bergen, 286 Ga. App. 258, 260- 261 (1) (649 SE2d 313) (2007).

1 Howard directed his notice of appeal to the Supreme Court, which transferred the matter to this Court. For these reasons, we lack jurisdiction over this appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 09/15/2017 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.