Patel v. Lopez

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

In this civil action, the parties filed multiple pre-trial motions, including motions to set aside, to dismiss, to hold a defendant in contempt, and to stay discovery. On November 22, 2022, the trial court entered a single order resolving the pre-trial motions. The trial court issued a certificate of immediate review on December 5, 2022, and the defendants filed this application for interlocutory appeal. We, however, lack jurisdiction.

Under OCGA § 5-6-34 (b), a party may obtain interlocutory review only if the trial court "certifies within ten days of entry" of the order at issue that immediate review should be had. A timely certificate of immediate review is a jurisdictional requirement. See Von Waldner v. Baldwin/Cheshire, Inc., 133 Ga.App. 23, 24 (2) (209 S.E.2d 715) (1974). In order to be timely, the certificate must be entered within the ten day period. See OCGA § 5-6-34 (b); Turner v. Harper, 231 Ga. 175, 176 (200 S.E.2d 748) (1973). If the certificate of immediate review is not timely entered, the party seeking review must await final judgment in order to appeal the interlocutory rulings. See id.

Here, the certificate of immediate review was entered 13 days after entry of the order on appeal, making it untimely. Accordingly, we lack jurisdiction to consider this application, which is hereby DISMISSED.