O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 9-4-9 (2019)

Costs

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

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In any proceeding under this chapter the court may make such award or division of costs as may seem equitable and just.

History

Ga. L. 1945, p. 137, § 5.

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Attorney fees not cost. - To the extent that the award of “costs” included attorney fees or expenses of litigation those costs were not allowable. Lawhorne v. Soltis, 259 Ga. 502, 384 S.E.2d 662, 1989 Ga. LEXIS 442 (1989). Although an award of attorney fees to a wife in a declaratory judgment action brought by a husband seeking a determination of the husband’s obligations under a divorce decree was not authorized by either O.C.G.A. § 9-4-9 or O.C.G.A. § 136-11, the award was allowed by O.C.G.A. § 19-6-2(a)(1) because the wife’s separate contempt action based on the husband’s failure to comply with the divorce decree was consolidated for disposition with the husband’s declaratory judgment action, and the trial court found in favor of the

wife in that declaratory judgment action. Waits v. Waits, 280 Ga. App. 734, 634 S.E.2d 799, 2006 Ga. App. LEXIS 823 (2006), cert. denied, No. S06C2100, 2006 Ga. LEXIS 913 (Ga. Oct. 30, 2006). Error in failing to make express findings supporting award. - In a post-divorce proceeding, the trial court erred to the extent that the court awarded attorney fees to the ex-wife under O.C.G.A. § 9-4-9 and to the extent that the court’s award was procedurally improper under O.C.G.A. § 9-15-14(a) in that the court did not make express findings specifying the abusive conduct for which the award was made. Belcher v. Belcher, 298 Ga. 333, 782 S.E.2d 2, 2016 Ga. LEXIS 71 (2016).

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. 22A Am. Jur. 2d, Declaratory Judgments, § 257 et seq.. C.J.S. 20 C.J.S., Costs, § 31 et seq.

U.L.A. Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act (U.L.A.), § 10.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 5 cases, 1989–2018 · leading case: Belcher v. Belcher, 782 S.E.2d 2 (Ga. 2016).

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Belcher v. Belcher, 782 S.E.2d 2 (Ga. 2016). · cites it 14× “On September 15, 2014, Wife filed a motion for attorney fees under OCGA §§ 9-4-9 and 9-15-14 (a). 1 On November 3, without holding a hearing, the court entered an order recognizing that attorney fees are not “costs” under OCGA § 9-4-9 but granting Wife’s motion under OCGA §…”

Lawhorne v. Soltis, 384 S.E.2d 662 (Ga. 1989). · cites it 8× “47 to appellees under OCGA § 9-4-9. 1. Appellant argues that the court erred in improperly finding that the property in dispute was part of Lot 34, which belongs to appellees.”

Waits v. Waits, 634 S.E.2d 799 (Ga. Ct. App. 2006). · cites it 2× “An award of costs in declaratory judgment actions pursuant to OCGA § 9-4-9 does not include attorney fees.”

Belcher v. Belcher., 816 S.E.2d 82 (Ga. Ct. App. 2018). · cites it 6× “8 The Appellee filed a motion for attorney fees under OCGA §§ 9-4-9 and 9-15-14 (a). 9 After conducting a hearing, the trial court entered an order awarding the Appellee $2,500 in attorney fees under both statutes.”

Pulaski Cnty. Bd. of Tax Assessors v. JFS Props., Inc., 618 S.E.2d 151 (Ga. Ct. App. 2005). · cites it 2× “Soltis, 4 a declaratory judgment action, in which our Supreme Court held that the term “costs,” as utilized in OCGA § 9-4-9, did not include attorney fees or expenses of litigation.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.