All Cities Enterprises, Inc. v. Southern Cooking

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,_________________ August 03, 2012

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A12A1444. ALL CITIES ENTERPRISES, INC v. SOUTHERN COOKING, INC.

The above-referenced appeal concerns the ownership of three billboards situated on property that was transferred to All Cities Enterprises (“Appellant”) from Southern Cooking, Inc. (“Appellee”). Appellant contends that the billboards were included in the sale of the property, but Appellee contends that it maintained ownership of the billboards and entered into a lease with Appellant for access to the surrounding land on which the billboards were located. After Appellant threatened to remove the billboards, Appellee sought declaratory judgment. The trial court entered declaratory judgment in favor of Appellee, finding that Appellee owned the billboards and that Appellant had entered into a lease of the real property upon which the billboards were located. Appellant appeals the trial court’s decision and argues that it purchased and owns the billboards, did not enter into a lease, is entitled to damages for Appellee’s use of the billboards, and the judgment was unsupported by evidence. Appellee contends that the lease agreement was entered contemporaneously with the sale of the property and, in the alternative, if the sale of the property included a transfer in ownership of the billboards, the trial court properly used its powers in equity to reform a mutual mistake. Because this appeal involves questions of title to land and equity, the Court of Appeals of Georgia lacks jurisdiction. See Ga. Const. art. 6, § 6, ¶ III (1), (2); see also Glynn County Bd. of Tax Assessors v. Haller, 273 Ga. 649, 649 (1) (543 SE2d 699) (2001) (“Whether an action is an equity case for the purpose of determining appellate jurisdiction depends on the issue raised on appeal, not on the relief sought.”); Hooten

v. Goldome Credit Corp., 224 Ga. App. 581, 582 (1) (481 SE2d 550) (1997) (“Cases involving ‘title to land,’ . . . refer to and mean actions at law, such as ejectment and statutory substitutes, in which the plaintiff asserts a presently enforceable legal title against the possession of the defendant for the purpose of recovering the land.”). Accordingly, we hereby transfer the above case to the Supreme Court.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 08/03/2012 Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,_________________ 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.