O.C.G.A. § 42-12-8 (2019)

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Applicability. - O.C.G.A. § 42-12-8 applied to an appeal in a case filed in a trial court before its effective date and in which there was no appealable judgment entered until after the effective date. Day v. Stokes, 268 Ga. 494, 491 S.E.2d 365. Direct appeal by an incarcerated woman from a parental termination order in an action filed by the Department of Human Resources was proper since the requirement of O.C.G.A. § 42-12-8 to use discretionary appeal procedures applies only when the appellant is a prisoner or former prisoner appealing from an action that was filed by the appellant when he or she was a prisoner. In re K.W., 233 Ga. App. 140, 503 S.E.2d 394. Discretionary application requirement of Georgia Prison Litigation Reform Act, O.C.G.A. § 42-12-8, was inapplicable to an injured party’s renewed personal injury suit because the injured party was not a prisoner when the de novo action was filed. Baskin v. Ga. Dep’t of Corr., 272 Ga. App. 355, 612 S.E.2d 565, 2005 Ga. App. LEXIS 292 (2005). After the Sentence Review Panel reduced the sentences imposed on an inmate convicted of aggravated assault and false imprisonment, it was found that the Panel did not have the statutory authority to reduce the false imprisonment sentence, and a writ of mandamus was issued requiring the Department of Corrections to enforce the original sentence; the inmate’s appeal from the denial of the inmate’s motion to set aside the judgment granting the writ was subject to O.C.G.A.

§ 42-12-8 so the inmate had to pursue a discretionary, rather than direct, appeal. Griffin v. Keller, 278 Ga. 878, 608 S.E.2d 221, 2005 Ga. LEXIS 39 (2005). Failure to comply with procedures. - Court of Appeals was deprived of jurisdiction over an appeal from a prisoner’s civil action concerning medical treatment the prisoner received because the prisoner failed to comply with the discretionary procedures as required by O.C.G.A. § 4212-8. Botts v. Givens, 223 Ga. App. 139, 476 S.E.2d 816. Trial court erred by failing to conduct a hearing on a prisoner’s claim of indigence as the plain language of O.C.G.A. § 9-152(b) required a hearing before the court could order costs to be paid and there was nothing in the statute that allowed the court, on the court’s own, to inquire into the truth of a pauper’s affidavit to order the payment of court costs without a hearing. Lee v. Batchelor, 345 Ga. App. 559, 814 S.E.2d 416, 2018 Ga. App. LEXIS 233 (2018). Prisoner’s failure to comply with discretionary appeal procedures in appealing from the trial court’s denial of the prisoner’s pro se petition for mandamus required dismissal of the action. Jones v. Townsend, 267 Ga. 489, 480 S.E.2d 24. Fact that the defendant was a prisoner invoked O.C.G.A. § 42-12-8, which set forth appellate procedural requirements under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, O.C.G.A. § 42-12-1 et seq.; thus, the defendant was required to pursue discre-

tionary, rather than direct, review of a trial court’s ruling denying the defendant’s petition for a writ of mandamus. Harris v. State, 278 Ga. 805, 606 S.E.2d 248, 2004 Ga. LEXIS 1027 (2004). Prisoner’s appeal in a suit seeking records from the prisoner’s criminal case, which was not filed under the criminal docket numbers but as a separate civil mandamus petition, was not within the

Supreme Court of Georgia’s murder jurisdiction under Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VI, Sec. VI, Para. III(8); however, it was within the court’s jurisdiction over extraordinary remedies in death penalty proceedings under O.C.G.A. § 15-3-3.1(4). Still, the appeal was dismissed for failure to comply with O.C.G.A. § 42-12-8. Brock v. Hardman, 303 Ga. 729, 814 S.E.2d 736, 2018 Ga. LEXIS 353 (2018).

RESEARCH REFERENCES ALR. Validity, construction, and application

of State Prison Litigation Reform Acts, 85 A.L.R.6th 229.