Quentin Watkins v. the Orchard Lane Condominium Association, Inc.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ November 18, 2021

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A22A0590. QUENTIN WATKINS v. THE ORCHARD LANE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC.

In 2015, Orchard Lane Condominium Association, Inc. filed the instant action for judicial foreclosure of its lien for past-due condominium assessments. In 2018, the trial court entered a final judgment in favor of Orchard Lane and against Quentin Watkins. Watkins filed both a motion to set aside under OCGA § 9-11-60 and an appeal. On appeal, we affirmed the trial court’s judgment in a Rule 36 opinion. See Case No. A18A1847 (March 13, 2019). Upon remittitur to the trial court, Watkins filed another motion to set aside and an amended motion to set aside. On September 24, 2021, the trial court entered an order denying Watkins’s motions to set aside,1 and he filed this direct appeal. We lack jurisdiction. “[T]he denial of a motion to set aside a final judgment under OCGA § 9-11-60 is not directly appealable and instead requires the filing of an application for discretionary appeal under OCGA § 5-6-35 (b).” Jim Ellis Atlanta, Inc. v. Adamson, 283 Ga. App. 116, 116 (640 SE2d 688) (2006); see OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (8). “Compliance with the discretionary appeals procedure is jurisdictional.” Smoak v. Dept. of Human Resources, 221 Ga. App. 257, 257 (471 SE2d 60) (1996). Watkins’s

1 The trial court denominated the September 24 order as a “final order and judgment,” but the trial court’s final judgment was entered in 2018. Accordingly, the September 24 order was an order denying the motions to set aside. See Forest City Gun Club v. Chatham County, 280 Ga. App. 219, 220 (633 SE2d 623) (2006) (explaining that the Court must construe orders “according to their substance and function and not merely by nomenclature”).

failure to follow the required appellate procedure deprives us of jurisdiction over this appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 11/18/2021 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.