Sheila Long v. Honeywell International, Inc. ( 2020 )

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia ATLANTA,____________________ February 05, 2020 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A20E0028. LONG et al. v. HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL et al. Plaintiff-Appellee has filed an emergency motion asking this Court to dismiss the appeal in the above-referenced case before it is docketed in this Court. In this personal injury and wrongful death action, Plaintiff-Appellee moved for summary judgment on issues of alternative causation for the decedent’s lung cancer. On January 8, 2020, the trial court granted the motion. On February 3, 2020, Defendant-Appellant filed a notice of appeal in the trial court without obtaining a certificate of immediate review. Plaintiff-Appellee asks this Court to exercise its inherent authority under Court of Appeals Rule 40 (b) to grant its motion to dismiss the appeal to prevent Defendant-Appellant from “attempting an end run around the process for application for [interlocutory] appeal to avoid a March 9, 2020 trial date.” Court of Appeals Rule 40 (b) states that we may issue emergency orders or give such direction to the trial court as may be necessary to preserve jurisdiction of an appeal or to prevent the contested issue from becoming moot. This power shall be exercised sparingly. Generally, no order shall be made or direction given in an appeal until it has been docketed in this Court. While Plaintiff-Appellee’s argument that Defendant-Appellant’s appeal should be dismissed for failing to comply with the interlocutory appeal procedures may have merit, these arguments do not present a proper ground for the exercise of this Court’s inherent authority. Moreover, as this appeal has not been docketed, and action by this Court is not needed to preserve this Court’s jurisdiction or to prevent a contested issue from becoming moot, Plaintiff-Appellee’s emergency motion to dismiss Defendant-Appellant’s appeal is hereby DENIED. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 02/05/2020 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.