Wendi Clifton v. Erin McAlister

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: January 30, 2017
• Docket: A16A0623
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ January 30, 2017

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A16A0623. WENDI CLIFTON v. ERIN MCALISTER.

Wendi Clifton sued Erin McAlister for specific performance of a parenting agreement that she had executed with McAlister, her former same-sex partner. The trial court dismissed the action for failure to state a claim. Clifton filed an application for discretionary appeal, which we denied. See Case No. A16D0075 (denied November 3, 2015). Clifton also filed a notice of appeal, resulting in the instant direct appeal. We transferred the case to the Supreme Court because the issues on appeal appeared to fall within that Court’s subject matter jurisdiction. The Supreme Court, however, returned the case to us, concluding that its subject matter jurisdiction was not implicated, and we reinstated the appeal. Our denial of Clifton’s discretionary application was a decision on the merits, and the doctrine of res judicata bars any subsequent appeals from the same order. See Hook v. Bergen, 286 Ga. App. 258, 261 (1) (649 SE2d 313) (2007); Northwest Social & Civic Club v. Franklin, 276 Ga. 859, 860 (583 SE2d 858) (2003). For these reasons, we lack jurisdiction over this direct appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 01/30/2017 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.