Chad Myers v. the Honorable A. Gregory Poole, Judge

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ January 07, 2025

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A25E0060. CHAD MYERS v. THE HONORABLE A. GREGORY POOLE, JUDGE.

Chad Myers has petitioned this Court for a writ of mandamus ordering Judge A. Gregory Poole of the Superior Court of Cobb County to consider and rule upon Myers’s motion to modify an illegal sentence. But this is not one of the rare instances that will invoke this Court’s original mandamus jurisdiction. In general, “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). Thus, before seeking to invoke this Court’s original mandamus jurisdiction, the procedure which must be followed is to first file the petition in the appropriate lower court. 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” then may be appealed to this Court. Graham, 252 Ga. at 123.

Accordingly, until Myers has obtained a ruling from the superior court, there is no basis for this Court to exercise its jurisdiction. See Titleman, 277 Ga. at 461; Brown, 251 Ga. at 436-437. This petition is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 01/07/2025 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.