Wilbur Fuller appeals from an order of the Superior Court of Fulton County denying his motion for class certification pursuant to OCGA § 9-11-23. Fuller contends the trial court erred in denying his written motion for class certification. He argues the court erred in finding his motion untimely filed and in concluding that the delay in filing the motion resulted in prejudice to the defendants and the class. Fuller further contends the trial court erred in failing to make factual findings in support of its ruling. For the reasons set forth below, we vacate the court’s order and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. The record shows that, on March 26, 2004, Fulton County property owners Wilbur Fuller and Velva Bass “plaintiffs” filed a “Class Action Complaint” against Heartwood 11, LLC, and Vesta Holding Company I, LLC “defendants”, companies that had purchased some of Fulton County’s tax liens on the plaintiffs’ property. The plaintiffs sought relief for themselves and members of the proposed class for the allegedly unconstitutional and fraudulent actions of the defendants in demanding additional penalties and interest on those purchased tax liens. The defendants jointly filed an answer on May 3, 2004, and, on July 1, 2004, they filed a motion seeking a judgment on the pleadings. In the brief in support of their motion, the defendants argued that the law expressly allowed for the collection of penalties and interest on the transferred tax liens and that the voluntary payment doctrine barred Fuller from seeking any recovery. On July 14, 2004, the parties filed a stipulation in which they agreed that the defendants did not have to respond to the plaintiffs’ discovery requests until the court ruled on the motion for a judgment on the pleadings. The trial court did not rule on that motion until December 5, 2005,1 when it entered an order granting in part and denying in part the motion. In granting a partial judgment on the pleadings in favor of Heartwood as to Count 1 of Fuller’s Complaint, the court concluded that OCGA § 9-13-36 “specifically authorizes the transfer of a tax execution” and was not unconstitutional on its face.
Within two weeks of the entry of the court’s order on the defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings, the plaintiffs resumed their discovery efforts. On December 28, 2005, the defendants filed a motion for reconsideration of that portion of the court’s order denying them a judgment on the pleadings. On January 17, 2006, the defendants responded to the plaintiffs’ discovery requests. On January 19, 2006, the plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint and a motion for class certification. The court did not address the plaintiffs’ motion for class certification or any other pending motions, but, rather, on February 10, 2006, entered an order staying “all proceedings” and tolling “any discovery periods, time to respond or other time limits imposed by law” until this Court’s decision in E-Lane Pine Hills v. Ferdinand , 277 Ga. App. 566, 569 627 SE2d 44 2005, was final.2 The superior court reasoned that the E-Lane case was “potentially dispositive of many of the remaining claims in this case.”
