Bette Rigdon v. Millie Young Smith

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ July 11, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A24A0935. RIGDON v. SMITH.

Bette Rigdon filed a personal injury action against Millie Young Smith. The case was tried before a jury, and the jury returned a defense verdict. After the trial court entered judgment on the verdict, Rigdon filed a motion for new trial. She filed this appeal from the trial court’s order denying her motion for new trial. Rigdon’s notice of appeal specified that:

The clerk [should] please omit nothing from the record on appeal. Any transcripts of depositions, evidence, or proceedings in existence shall be filed for inclusion in the record of appeal, including but not limited to the trial proceedings on May 1, 2022 through May 5, 2022, the Hearing on Plaintiff's Motion for New Trial which occurred on October 4, 2023, or any other trial dates.

However, the record submitted to this court includes transcripts from only one day of the jury trial and from the hearing on the motion for new trial. Although we have requested the missing transcripts from the state court clerk, the transcripts are still not in the record. OCGA § 5-6-48 (d) gives appellate courts the authority to supplement the record or to “take any other action to perfect the appeal and record so that the appellate court can and will pass upon the appeal and not dismiss it.” See Galardi v. Steele-Inman, 259 Ga. App. 249 (576 SE2d 555) (2002) (remanding case to trial court

for completion of record where, despite attempts to supplement record, it did not contain all evidence presented to jury). Under this authority, we remove this case from our docket and remand the case to the state court for completion of the record without delay. Id. at 249-250. “Once . . . the trial court has entered an order stating that the record is complete or that it cannot be completed,” Galardi, 259 Ga. App. at 250, Rigdon shall have 30 days from the entry of the order to refile a notice of appeal. “[U]pon the filing of such notice[ ] of appeal the case with the complete record . . . may be transmitted to the Court of Appeals for redocketing.” Id.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 07/11/2024 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.