Teresa Jennings filed a petition for writ of mandamus against McIntosh County and its Board of Commissioners “Board”, seeking, inter alia, the payment of compensation pursuant to OCGA § 15-10-23 a 5 for her position as a magistrate, a return to her duties as Clerk of the Magistrate Court of McIntosh County, and reimbursement for attorney fees and other costs incurred in bringing the petition. The Superior Court of McIntosh County granted Jennings’s prayer for relief for compensation for 2002, but denied her compensation claimed prior to January 1, 2002, as well as her request to be restored to her position as clerk; the court granted only a portion of Jennings’s request for attorney fees, reasoning that Jennings was “only partially successful in her claim.” Jennings appeals the denied mandamus relief and the amount of attorney fees awarded. For the reasons which follow, we affirm the superior court’s judgment on mandamus with regard to compensation and reinstatement, but we reverse the award of attorney fees. Jennings asserts the following in support of her petition for mandamus: In August of 1989, Jennings, was appointed by the Chief Magistrate of McIntosh County to serve as a magistrate; her most recent reappointment as a magistrate was in 2001. Simultaneously with her appointment as a magistrate, Jennings was also appointed by the Chief Magistrate to serve as Clerk of the Magistrate Court of McIntosh County. Prior to 1996, magistrates were paid a flat monthly fee. Effective in January 1996, pursuant to OCGA § 15-10-23, magistrates were to be paid an hourly rate not to exceed 90 percent of the chief magistrate’s base pay, but never less than a statutory minimum per month. Under OCGA § 15-10-105 d, magistrates who also performed the duties of clerk of the magistrate court were to receive a stipend in addition to their pay as magistrates. Jennings believed that she was not being paid according to the statutory guidelines, and approached the county attorney with her complaint.
In January 2002, the Chief Magistrate began certifying the monthly hours that Jennings worked as a magistrate. Included in the certification were hours that Jennings was “on call.”1
