O.C.G.A. § 5-6-13 (2019)

Statute text

(a) A judge of any trial court or tribunal having the power to adjudge and punish for contempt shall grant to any person convicted of or adjudged to be in contempt of court a supersedeas upon application and compliance with the provisions of law as to appeal and certiorari, where the person also submits, within the time prescribed by law, written notice that he intends to seek review of the conviction or adjudication of contempt. It shall not be in the discretion of any trial court judge to grant or refuse a supersedeas in cases of contempt.

(b) This Code section shall not apply to contempt in the presence of the court during the progress of a proceeding.

History

(Ga. L. 1939, p. 260, § 1.)

Annotations

Cross references. - Supersedeas, Rules of the Supreme Court of the State of Georgia, Rule 12.

Supersedeas, Rules of the Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia, Rule 50.

Law reviews. - For article, "Jury Trials in Contempt Cases," see 20 Ga. B.J. 297 (1957). For article on domestic relations, see 66 Mercer L. Rev. 65 (2014). For article, "How Not to Get Thrown in Jail," see 22 Ga. Bar. J. 17 (June 2017).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Grant of supersedeas is mandatory upon giving of required notice. - Under subsection (a), one adjudged in contempt is entitled as a matter of right to a supersedeas upon written notice that one intends to except to court's judgment. Cody v. Cody, 221 Ga. 677, 146 S.E.2d 778 (1966).

Trial court did not have discretion to grant or refuse a supersedeas in the parent's contempt case and should not have confined the parent to jail for two days as a mandatory halt was required after the parent submitted an application and written notice indicating the parent's intention to seek an appeal of the civil contempt ruling against the parents. Binkley v. Flatt, 256 Ga. App. 263, 568 S.E.2d 95 (2002).

Grant of supersedeas proper. - Read together, O.C.G.A. §§ 5-6-13(a) and 5-6-46(a) required the trial court to grant the husband a supersedeas when the husband filed a "Notice of Intent to Appeal" and to grant the wife's motion to require the husband to post a supersedeas bond. Horn v. Shepherd, 292 Ga. 14, 732 S.E.2d 427 (2012).

Subsection (b) does not preclude review of judgments within its scope. - While grant of supersedeas for contempt committed in presence of court is a matter within sound discretion of trial court before whom contempt is committed, and while person so held is not as a matter of right entitled to a hearing, such judgment of the trial court is nevertheless reviewable by the Court of Appeals. Garland v. Tanksley, 99 Ga. App. 201, 107 S.E.2d 866 (1959).

Failure to grant requested supersedeas moot. - Mother who was found in contempt for denying a child's father his visitation rights had appealed only the trial court's visitation modification and not the trial court's finding of contempt; therefore, her challenge to the trial court's denial of supersedeas under O.C.G.A. § 5-6-13(a) based on O.C.G.A. § 5-6-34(e) was moot. Weeks v. Weeks, 324 Ga. App. 785, 751 S.E.2d 575 (2013).

Failure to give required notice for grant of supersedeas. - Trial court did not err in refusing to grant supersedeas when there was no indication that the complainant submitted a written notice of intent to appeal and when there was no evidence that the complainant complied with O.C.G.A. § 5-6-13. Blake v. Spears, 254 Ga. App. 21, 561 S.E.2d 173 (2002).

Trial court did not err in failing to release a father from incarceration while the father's appeal of a contempt order was pending because there was no indication that the father submitted either an application for supersedeas or a written notice of intent to appeal as required by O.C.G.A. § 5-6-13(a). Cross v. Ivester, 315 Ga. App. 760, 728 S.E.2d 299 (2012).

Cited in Smith v. Smith, 224 Ga. 689, 164 S.E.2d 225 (1968); Calvert Enters., Inc. v. Griffin-Spalding County Hosp. Auth., 197 Ga. App. 727, 399 S.E.2d 287 (1990); In re Hughes, 299 Ga. App. 66, 681 S.E.2d 745 (2009).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d. - 5 Am. Jur. 2d, Appellate Review, §§ 197, 421.

C.J.S. - 17 C.J.S., Contempt, §§ 168, 218 et seq.