Barbara Bender, in Her Official Capacity as Council Member, City of Snellville v. Kelly D. Kautz, in Her Official Capacity as the Mayor of the City of Snellville

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ June 19, 2015

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A15D0424. BARBARA BENDER, IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS COUNCIL MEMBER, CITY OF SNELLVILLE, et al. v. KELLY D. KAUTZ, IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SNELLVILLE.

In this application for discretionary review, the City of Snellville and various City officials (collectively, “the City,”) challenge the trial court’s order directing the City to pay attorneys fees the mayor incurred in her suit against the City. In its order, the court cited both OCGA § 9-15-14 and City of Stockbridge v. Stuart, 329 Ga. App. 323 (3) (765 SE2d 16) (2014), as bases for its award. Because the award was not based solely on OCGA § 9-15-14, but also on Stuart, it is subject to direct appeal. See Hallman v. Emory University, 225 Ga. App. 247, 249- 250 (483 SE2d 362) (1997) (OCGA § 9-15-14 award is directly appealable where fees were also awarded pursuant to an additional basis which is not subject to discretionary review). This Court will grant an otherwise timely discretionary application pursuant to OCGA § 5-6-35 (j) if the order is subject to direct appeal and the applicant has not timely filed a notice of appeal. Accordingly, this application is hereby GRANTED. The City shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal with the trial court. If, however, the City has already filed a notice of appeal, it 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 06/19/2015 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.