Helen Cleveland v. Sentinel Insurance Company, Ltd. D/B/A the Hartford

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ November 04, 2019

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A20D0119. HELEN CLEVELAND v. SENTINEL INSURANCE COMPANY, LTD. d/b/a THE HARTFORD et al.

Helen Cleveland brought tort and contract claims against Sentinel Insurance Company and other defendants after her home flooded due to a burst water pipe. Following a jury trial, the trial court entered judgment in favor of Sentinel and its adjuster on Cleveland’s claims against them. Cleveland appealed to this Court, and that appeal is currently pending as Case No. A19A2384. The trial court subsequently entered an award of attorney fees in favor of the Sentinel defendants under OCGA § 9-15-14. Cleveland now seeks discretionary review of the fee award. “[A] party aggrieved by a post-judgment OCGA § 9-15-14 award is required to comply with the discretionary appeal procedure of OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (10) only in those instances where no direct appeal has been otherwise taken from the underlying judgment. However, in those instances where . . . a direct appeal has been taken from the underlying judgment, a party may also appeal directly from the OCGA § 9-15-14 post-judgment award without regard to the discretionary appeal procedures.” Rolleston v. Huie, 198 Ga. App. 49, 52 (4) (400 SE2d 349) (1990); accord Mitcham v. Blalock, 268 Ga. 644, 647 (4) (491 SE2d 782) (1997). Thus, Cleveland was entitled to a direct appeal from the attorney fee award. This Court will grant a timely discretionary application pursuant to OCGA § 5-6-35 (j) if the trial court’s order is subject to direct appeal and the applicant has not timely filed a notice of appeal. Accordingly, this application is hereby GRANTED. Cleveland shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal with the trial court. If, however, she has already filed a notice of appeal, she need not

file a second notice. The clerk of the trial court is DIRECTED to include a copy of this order in the record transmitted to the Court of Appeals.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 11/04/2019 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.