McLeod v. Clements

R. Jerry McLeod appeals from the trial court’s order declining to consider his motion for a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief and his motion to set aside the judgment.1 Because the trial court properly concluded that it had been divested of jurisdiction to entertain the two motions, we affirm. This case involves an ongoing dispute between two landowners, McLeod and Stan Clements, over the right to water from a well located on Clements’s property.2 Proceeding pro se, McLeod filed a complaint Civil Action No. 08-OCGA §-287 alleging that Clements was required to supply him with well water based upon a water agreement executed in 1971. Clements answered and filed a counterclaim and request for declaratory judgment regarding his obligations under the 1971 water agreement. During the course of the ensuing litigation, McLeod filed two additional civil actions against Clements Civil Action Nos. 08-OCGA §-331 and 09-OCGA §-348, which raised essentially the same claims and arguments as the original civil action.

On August 17, 2009, the trial court conducted a new hearing on Clements’s request for a declaratory judgment.3 Following the hearing, on September 1, 2009, the trial court entered an order and judgment declaring that Clements had no contractual obligation to supply well water or access to the well system to McLeod. Based upon this ruling, the trial court also dismissed with prejudice McLeod’s claims in the three related civil actions. Additionally, the trial court awarded attorney fees in favor of Clements.