Victoria Christian Russell v. William A. Fears

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ May 11, 2023

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A23A1423. VICTORIA CHRISTIAN RUSSELL v. WILLIAM A. FEARS.

Victoria Christian Russell has filed an original mandamus petition in this Court requesting that we order Superior Court Judge William A. Fears to transfer her divorce case to a court in Florida and vacate multiple trial court orders in various cases for lack of jurisdiction. In the alternative, she asks that we issue a writ of prohibition restraining the respondent from continuing to exercise jurisdiction over matters relating to custody and visitation of her minor children. “Generally, the superior courts of this state have the power, in proper cases, to issue process in the nature of mandamus, prohibition, specific performance, quo warranto, and injunction, and hence the need to resort to the appellate courts for such relief by petition filed in the appellate courts will be extremely rare.” Brown v. Johnson, 251 Ga. 436, 436 (306 SE2d 655) (1983). Rather, the procedure to be followed before seeking to invoke this Court’s original jurisdiction is to file the petition in the appropriate lower court first. See Graham v. Cavender, 252 Ga. 123, 123 (311 SE2d 832) (1984); Expedia, Inc. v. City of Columbus, 305 Ga. App. 450, 455 (2) (b) (699 SE2d 600) (2010) (“Except in the rarest of cases, litigants seeking to invoke this Court’s original jurisdiction . . . must first petition the superior court for such relief.”). Being a respondent, “the superior-court judge[ ] will disqualify, another superior-court judge will be appointed to hear and determine the matter, and the final decision may be appealed[.]” Graham, supra. This is not one of the extremely rare instances in which this Court will exercise its original jurisdiction. See Gay v. Owens, 292 Ga. 480, 482-483 (2) (738 SE2d 614) (2013). Until Russell has pursued mandamus and prohibition relief in superior court

and obtained a ruling thereon, there is no basis for this Court to exercise jurisdiction. See Brown, 251 Ga. at 436-437. Accordingly, this petition is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 05/11/2023 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.