Opinion
A22A0767
02-02-2022
IN RE ESTATE OF WILLIE MAE JAMES a/k/a WILLIE MAEBROCKINGTON JAMES.
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
David Jonathan James, the surviving spouse of decedent Willie Mae James, filed a petition for a year's support in probate court. The decedent's sons, Edward Brockington, Jr., and Tyrone E. Brockington ("the Brockingtons"), filed in the case a caveat to the year's support petition and a petition to have the will probated. On July 2, 2021, the probate court granted David James's petition for a year's support. The Brockingtons appealed, and we dismissed the appeal as interlocutory because their petition to probate the will remained pending. (Case Number A22A0304, Nov. 9, 2021).
On November 16, 2021, after the case was returned to the trial court, the Brockingtons filed a voluntary dismissal without prejudice of their probate petition, which was the only matter remaining in the case. On December 2, 2021, the Brockingtons filed this direct appeal from the order granting the petition for a year's support. David James has filed a motion to dismiss the appeal.
We lack jurisdiction. "A notice of appeal must be filed from an appealable decision or judgment, OCGA § 5-6-38[.]. . .A voluntary dismissal is not a decision or judgment that may be appealed by a plaintiff." Waye v. Continental Special Risks, Inc., 289 Ga.App. 82, 84 (656 S.E.2d 150) (2007); see also Studdard v. Satcher, Chick, Kapfer, Inc., 217 Ga.App. 1, 3 (456 S.E.2d 71) (1995); Mitchell v. Wyatt, 192 Ga.App. 127, 129 (1) (384 S.E.2d 227) (1989). This is so because "one cannot complain of a judgment, order, or ruling that his own procedure or conduct procured or aided in causing." Studdard, 217 Ga.App. at 3 (punctuation omitted). Accordingly, a party cannot use its own voluntary dismissal as the vehicle for obtaining appellate review of rulings entered by the trial court more than 30 days before the filing of the notice of appeal. See Waye, 289 Ga.App. at 84; Studdard, 217 Ga.App. at 3.
For these reasons, this Court is without jurisdiction to entertain this appeal. Therefore, the motion to dismiss is hereby GRANTED, and the appeal is DISMISSED.