Rashad D. Price is an inmate at a state prison. Acting pro se, he filed a mandamus petition against the Warden of that prison and the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections Appellants. The trial court granted mandamus relief, and this Court unanimously granted the Warden’s application for discretionary appeal. See OCGA § 42-12-8. Appellants contend that the trial court erred by allowing Price’s complaint to proceed even though he failed to use the form promulgated by the Administrative Office of the Courts AOC, as required by OCGA § 9-10-14 b. In relevant part, that statute provides the following:No clerk of any court shall accept for filing any action by an inmate of a state or local penal or correctional institution . . . against any . . . officer of state or local government unless the complaint or other initial pleading is on a form or forms promulgated by the AOC . . . .This language is unambiguous and does not provide for any exceptions. In this case, however, the clerk of the trial court did accept Price’s mandamus petition for filing and thereby acted “contrary to the requirements of OCGA § 9-10-14 b . . . .” King v. State of Ga. , 268 Ga. 384 493 SE2d 189 1997. As the trial court itself found, the clerk “should not have docketed this complaint absent the proper form.” If the clerk should not have docketed the complaint, then the trial court should not have considered it as a viable pleading.
Appellants raised the failure to comply with the mandate of OCGA § 9-10-14 b as a defense in both a timely answer and a subsequent motion to dismiss. The trial court noted Price’s contention “that the requisite form was not available to him at the time he filed his complaint . . . .” However, the trial court did not resolve that question in Price’s favor, presumably because Appellants’ counsel stated in his place that the form was available to Price at the facility where he was incarcerated, and because none of Price’s statements were made under oath. See Coonce v. State , 171 Ga. App. 20, 21 1 318 SE2d 763 1984. Moreover, the trial court recognized that the clerk could have provided Price with a copy of the AOC form. Thus, the record does not support Price’s assertion that he was denied access to the appropriate form. See Portee v. State of Ga. , 277 Ga. App. 536, 537 1 a, fn. 2 627 SE2d 63 2006.
