Huiming Song v. Egps Solutions I, Inc.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ August 29, 2025

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A26D0031. HUIMING SONG v. EGPS SOLUTIONS I, INC. et al.

In this derivative and breach of fiduciary duty action, the trial court ordered plaintiff Huiming Song and attorney Robert J. Kaufmann, jointly and severally, to pay $281,053.28 in attorney fees and expenses to Champion Instruments, LLC, under both OCGA § 9-15-14 and OCGA § 14-11-806. The court also ordered Song to pay $57,812.05 in attorney fees and expenses to eGPS Solutions I, Inc. and Travis Pruitt, Jr., under OCGA § 9-15-14 and OCGA § 14-2-746. Song filed this application for discretionary appeal from both orders. An appeal from an award of OCGA § 9-15-14 attorney fees generally requires a discretionary application. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (10). However, it does not appear that any provision of OCGA § 5-6-35, the discretionary appeal statute, applies to awards under OCGA § 14-11-806 or OCGA § 14-2-746. Under OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (1), a party may file a direct appeal from “[a]ll final judgments, that is to say, where the case is no longer pending in the court below, except as provided in Code Section 5-6-35.” Accordingly, the awards in this case — each made under both § 9-15-14 and § 14-11-806/§ 14-2-746, respectively — are subject to direct appeal. See Hart v. Redmond Regional Med. Center, 300 Ga. App. 641, 642 n.6 (686 SE2d 130) (2009) (final award of attorney fees under OCGA § 9-15-14 and OCGA § 9-11-37 is directly appealable); Hallman v. Emory University, 225 Ga. App. 247, 249-250 (483 SE2d 362) (1997) (OCGA § 9-15-14 award directly appealable since attorney fees were also awarded pursuant to OCGA § 51-7-80) (physical precedent only). We will grant a timely discretionary application if the lower court’s order is

subject to direct appeal. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (j). Accordingly, this application is hereby GRANTED. Song shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal with the trial court. If he has already filed a notice of appeal, he 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,____________________ 08/29/2025 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.