Trend Stitchers LLC v. Wheeler

A timely filed motion fore attorneys' fees made under O.C.G.A. § 9-15-14 was not subject to a new case filing fee, but was instead covered by the original case-initiation fee.

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After the trial court granted summary judgment in its favor, appellant Trend Stitchers, LLC filed a timely motion for attorney fees under OCGA § 9-15-14, which was ultimately returned by the clerk of court due to the nonpayment of a “post-judgment motion” filing fee. Thereafter, Trend Stitchers filed a motion for fees to be filed nunc pro tunc under OCGA § 9-11-60 g, which the trial court denied. Trend Stitchers appeals this decision, arguing that a timely filed motion under OCGA § 9-15-14 is a continuation of an existing case, which does not require a new filing fee. For the reasons noted infra , we reverse the trial court’s order and remand this case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. The underlying facts of this appeal are not in dispute. In April 2009, appellee Runta Wheeler filed a complaint against appellant Trend Stitchers, alleging that she was injured when she stepped in a puddle of water and fell as she entered a convenience store operated by Trend Stitchers. Trend Stitchers filed a timely answer denying all liability, and then moved for summary judgment of Wheeler’s claims, which the trial court granted. In so holding, the trial court noted that “this action comes close to meeting the criterion of OCGA § 9-15-14 a and so much of OCGA § 9-15-14 b as it refers to an action’s ‘lacking substantial justification’ . . . .”

Thereafter, Trend Stitchers filed a timely motion for attorney fees under OCGA § 9-15-14, which was ultimately and inexplicably returned to Trend Stitchers’s counsel along with a copy of the court’s updated fee schedule. After inquiring into the matter and learning that its OCGA § 9-15-14 motion for attorney fees had in fact been rejected for failure to pay a “post-judgment” filing fee, Trend Stitchers promptly filed a motion, pursuant to OCGA § 9-11-60 g,1 for fees to be filed nunc pro tunc , which the trial court denied. The clerk of court then assessed a fee for Trend Stitchers’s motion for attorney fees, which Trend Stitchers’s paid. This appeal follows.2

Trend Stitchers LLC v. Wheeler

A timely filed motion fore attorneys' fees made under O.C.G.A. § 9-15-14 was not subject to a new case filing fee, but was instead covered by the original case-initiation fee.

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