Opinion
A22A1661
08-04-2022
MONISHA RICHIE v. RASHARD WILBURN et al.
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
Monisha Richie sued Rashard Wilburn, Progressive Mountain Insurance and John Does 1-5 for negligence. Wilburn and Progressive Mountain Insurance filed a motion to dismiss and, on June 22, 2021, the trial court entered an order granting the motion and dismissing the complaint. On June 29, 2021, Richie filed a motion for reconsideration. The trial court denied the motion on July 7, 2021. On August 7, 2021, Richie filed a notice of appeal. The appeal is untimely.
A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of entry of the judgment or trial court order sought to be appealed. OCGA § 5-6-38 (a). "The proper and timely filing of a notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer appellate jurisdiction on an appellate court." Perlman v. Perlman, 318 Ga.App. 731, 739 (4) (734 S.E.2d 560) (2012) (punctuation omitted). Richie's notice of appeal was filed 46 days after the order granting the motion to dismiss was entered. Although Richie filed a motion for reconsideration within 30 days of the trial court's ruling, motions for reconsideration do not extend the time to appeal from the underlying decision, and the order resolving the motion is not itself a judgment subject to direct appeal. See Ferguson v. Freeman, 282 Ga. 180, 181 (1) (646 S.E.2d 65) (2007); Bell v. Cohran, 244 Ga.App. 510, 510 (536 S.E.2d 187) (2000) ("a motion for reconsideration does not toll the time for filing a direct appeal").
Accordingly, this appeal is hereby dismissed.