Derrick Jackson v. Paramount Properties Managment Group, LLC

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ February 12, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A24A0624. JACKSON v. PARAMOUNT PROPERTIES MANAGEMENT GROUP, LLC.

Paramount Properties Management Group initiated a dispossessory action against Derrick Jackson, alleging failure to pay rent, in January 2022. On October 2, 2023, the Superior Court of Fulton County entered an order holding Jackson in contempt for failing to obey a prior court order requiring him, inter alia, to pay $30,000.00 into the Registry of the Court by December 31, 2022. Jackson appealed. Jackson has since filed a notice showing that he filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in federal court and is therefore entitled to the automatic stay of proceedings under 11 USC § 362.

The filing of a bankruptcy petition automatically operates as a stay of “the commencement or continuation . . . of a judicial . . . action or proceeding against the debtor that was or could have been commenced before the” filing of such petition. 11 USC § 362 (a) (1). “The appellate courts of this State are constitutionally required to dispose of every case at the term of court for which it is entered on the courts’ dockets for hearing or at the next term of court, and so this Court does not have the power to stay a case.” Ironwood Capital Partners v. Jones, 355 Ga. App. 371, 374-375 (1), 844 S.E.2d 245 (2020); see Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. IX, Par. II. Instead, to the extent a bankruptcy stay applies, this Court will remand the appeal to the trial court until the stay of proceedings is lifted, at which time the appellant may re-institute the

appeal by filing a new notice of appeal in the trial court within 30 days of the date of the entry of the order in the bankruptcy court lifting the stay. See Boardman v. Brenninkmeijer, 328 Ga. App. 882, 883-884, 763 S.E.2d 267 (2014).

Modi v. India-American Cultural Assoc., 367 Ga. App. 572, 573 (886 SE2d 378) (2023). Accordingly, we REMAND this case to the trial court until the stay of proceedings is lifted.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 02/12/2024 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.