Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________

March 07, 2019

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A19A1470. STANLEY MUHAMMAD v. KEITH B. LEWIS.

After a verdict and judgment in favor of defendant Keith B. Lewis, plaintiff Stanley Muhammad filed a notice of appeal. After failing to perfect his appeal by paying costs for the transmission of the record, the trial court granted Lewis’s motion to dismiss the notice of appeal on October 1, 2018. Muhammad then filed his notice of appeal from that order on November 1, 2018. We, however, lack jurisdiction.

A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of the entry of an appealable judgment. OCGA § 5-6-38 (a). The proper and timely filing of a notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer appellate jurisdiction on this Court. Rowland v. State, 264 Ga. 872, 872 (1) (452 SE2d 756) (1995). Muhammad’s notice of appeal, filed 31 days after entry of the order he seeks to appeal, was untimely. Consequently – and pretermitting whether a direct appeal otherwise would lie from that order – we lack jurisdiction over this untimely appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________

03/07/2019 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.