S&S Towing & Recovery, Ltd. v. Michael Charnota

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: May 29, 2019
• Docket: A19I0248
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ May 29, 2019

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A19I0248. S&S TOWING & RECOVERY, LTD. et al. v. MICHAEL CHARNOTA.

Defendants S&S Towing & Recovery, Ltd., Timothy Seals, and Paula Seals filed this application for interlocutory review, seeking to appeal a trial court order denying their motion in limine to exclude evidence under OCGA § 51-2-7 in this dog bite case. They argued that this Code section is unconstitutional because it creates a conclusive presumption that they owned or kept a vicious dog simply because the dog was not on a leash at the time it attacked the plaintiff Michael Charnota and his dog. The trial court denied the motion in limine ruling that OCGA § 51-2-7 is constitutional. The Supreme Court “has exclusive jurisdiction over all cases involving construction of the Constitution of the State of Georgia and of the United States and all cases in which the constitutionality of a law, ordinance, or constitutional provision has been called into question.” Atlanta Independent School System v. Lane, 266 Ga. 657, 657 (1) (469 SE2d 22) (1996) (citing Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. II (1)). Because the trial court rejected the defendants’ challenge to the constitutionality of OCGA § 51-2-7 in this case, it appears that jurisdiction over this application may lie in the Supreme Court. As the Supreme Court has the ultimate responsibility for determining appellate jurisdiction, see Saxton v. Coastal Dialysis & Med. Clinic, Inc., 267 Ga. 177, 178 (476 SE2d 587) (1996), this application is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court for disposition. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 05/29/2019 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.