Opinion
A24D0259
03-12-2024
UNIVERSAL PROTECTION SERVICE LLC d/b/a ALLIED UNIVERSAL PROTECTION SERVICES v. TYREESE RASHUN BROWN et al.
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
Tyreese Rashun Brown and Shakeria King were arrested and charged with several felonies arising out of a robbery and shooting that occurred in the parking lot of Lenox Square Mall. Seeking to recover for his injuries, the victim of the shooting sued a number of defendants, including Universal Protection Service, LLC d/b/a Allied Universal Protection Services ("Allied"). Allied filed a motion in the criminal case against Brown and King, seeking to unseal records related to the shooting. See OCGA § 42-8-62.1 (g) (1) (D). The trial court denied the motion to unseal, and Allied filed this timely application for discretionary appeal.
Unless a case falls into one of the categories enumerated in OCGA § 5-6-35 (a), a party has a right of direct appeal from a final judgment. See OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (1). And here, the order Allied seeks to appeal constitutes a final judgment. See Yanes v. Escobar, 362 Ga.App. 896, 897 (870 S.E.2d 506) (2022) ("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") (citation and punctuation omitted). Moreover, a judgment denying a motion to unseal records in a criminal case does not fall within the purview of OCGA § 5-6-35 (a). Thus, Allied was not required to file an application to obtain review of the order at issue.
We will grant a timely application for discretionary appeal if the lower court's order is subject to direct appeal. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (j). Accordingly, this application is hereby GRANTED. Allied shall have ten days from the date of this order to file a notice of appeal. The clerk of the trial court is DIRECTED to include a copy of this order in the record transmitted to this Court.