Opinion
A23A0783
07-11-2023
KIERRA DATES et al. v. CITY OF ATLANTA.
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
Appellant Kierra Dates, individually and as parent and natural guardian of her minor son, Jeremiah Dates, sued the City of Atlanta after her son was injured by a large tree limb that fell on him at a park. Dates now appeals the trial court's order granting the City of Atlanta's motion to dismiss based on Dates' alleged failure to comply with the requirements of the ante litem notice statute applicable to municipalities, OCGA § 36-33-5. In her second enumeration of error, Dates argues that the trial court erred in rejecting her argument that the lack of a tolling provision in OCGA § 36-33-5 (b) and (e) is discriminatory and violates the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Georgia.
The Supreme Court of Georgia "has exclusive jurisdiction over all cases involving construction of the Constitution of the State of Georgia and of the United States and all cases in which the constitutionality of a law, ordinance, or constitutional provision has been called into question. Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. II (1) of the Georgia Constitution." Atlanta Independent School System v. Lane, 266 Ga. 657 (1) (469 S.E.2d 22) (1996). While the Supreme Court does not have exclusive jurisdiction over cases that "involve merely the application of well-known constitutional principles," Turner v. State, 176 Ga. 823, 824 (169 SE 21) (1933), it does not appear that the Supreme Court has addressed the discrete constitutional question presented in this case. As the Supreme Court has the ultimate responsibility for determining appellate jurisdiction, Saxton v. Coastal Dialysis &Med. Clinic, 267 Ga. 177, 178 (476 S.E.2d 587) (1996), this appeal is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court for disposition.