Opinion
A23A0016
08-05-2022
JOHNNIE MARENE THOMAS v. ALVIN THOMAS.
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
Alvin Thomas owned at least three parcels of real property in the metropolitan Atlanta area, including one located on Cascade Road, one located on Willis Mill Road, and one located on Singleton Road. While Alvin was serving a prison term, he gave his sister, Johnnie Marene Thomas, power of attorney to manage his affairs. Without Alvin's knowledge or consent, Johnnie used this power of attorney to transfer the Cascade Road and Willis Mill properties to her or to entities she controlled. Johnnie also failed to use Alvin's assets as he directed to pay the mortgage on the Singleton Road property, resulting in that property's foreclosure.
After Johnnie refused to return title to the Cascade and Willis Mill properties to Alvin, he filed suit. The complaint sought return of those properties to Alvin, damages resulting from the foreclosure on the Singleton property, an accounting of the rental and other income generated by Alvin's properties, and attorney fees. On April 6, 2022, Alvin moved for entry of an order conveying the Willis Mill property back to him. After Johnnie failed to file a response, the trial court granted the motion and entered an order on June 2, 2022 transferring the Willis Mill property to Alvin. On July 7, 2022, Johnnie filed this direct appeal from that order. We lack jurisdiction.
Alvin sought attorney fees under OCGA § 13-6-11.
"Generally, an order is final and appealable when it leaves no issues remaining to be resolved, constitutes the court's final ruling on the merits of the action, and leaves the parties with no further recourse in the trial court." State v. White, 354 Ga.App. 214, 215 (840 S.E.2d 697) (2020) (punctuation omitted). See also OCGA § 5-6-34 (a). The order that Johnnie seeks to appeal is not final, as the case remains pending below. Accordingly, Johnnie was required to follow the interlocutory appeal procedures set forth in OCGA § 5-6-34 (b). See Bailey v. Bailey, 266 Ga. 832, 832-833 (471 S.E.2d 213) (1996); Pace Construction Corp. v. Northpark Assoc., 215 Ga.App. 438, 439-440 (450 S.E.2d 828) (1994). Her failure to do so deprives this Court of jurisdiction. Eidson v. Croutch, 337 Ga.App. 542, 543 (788 S.E.2d 129) (2016). See also Islamkhan v. Khan, 299 Ga. 548, 551 (2) (787 S.E.2d 731) (2016). Accordingly, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED.
We note that even if the order at issue was final, Johnnie's appeal would be untimely because it was not filed within 30 days of the entry of the order. See OCGA § 5-6-38 (a).