Full text
Allison Zarem v. Southcoast Properties, LLC
Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia
ATLANTA,__________________ August 27, 2014
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A14D0475. ALLISON ZAREM v. SOUTHCOAST PROPERTIES, LLC.
Allison Zarem has filed an application for discretionary appeal from a state court decision. The parties’ litigation began as a dispossessory proceeding in magistrate court, and the case was transferred to state court when Zarem raised counterclaims that exceeded the magistrate court’s jurisdictional limit. Under these circumstances, the state court’s judgment is subject to direct appeal. Where litigation begins in magistrate court and reaches the state court by means of a de novo appeal, a party must file an application for discretionary appeal to obtain appellate review before this Court. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (11). But this provision applies, by its terms, only where the state court exercises de novo review of the magistrate court’s decision. Here, the case was transferred from magistrate court to state court, so OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (11) does not apply. We will grant an otherwise timely application for discretionary appeal if the lower court’s order is subject to direct appeal.1 See OCGA § 5-6-35 (j). Accordingly, this application is hereby GRANTED, and Zarem shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal with the trial court. If she has already filed a notice of appeal in the trial court, she 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
1 We note that, pursuant to OCGA § 44-7-56, appeals from dispossessory judgments must be filed within seven days, rather than the usual 30 days. This shortened deadline did not apply here, because the dispossessory claim was resolved earlier in the proceedings. See America Net, Inc. v. U. S. Cover, Inc., 243 Ga. App 204 (1) (532 SE2d 756) (2000).
the Court of Appeals.
Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 08/27/2014 Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,__________________ 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.