Opinion
A23A1478
08-23-2023
NINA ROHRER et al. v. MAYOR AND ALDERMEN OF THE CITY OF SAVANNAH.
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
Nina Rohrer and Glen Rohrer sued the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah, Georgia (the "City") for negligence and loss of consortium. The City moved for summary judgment, arguing that the Rohrers failed to comply with the ante litem notice requirements of OCGA § 36-33-5. In response, the Rohrers argued, inter alia, that the ante litem notice requirements are unconstitutional. The trial court granted the City's motion.
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." Atlanta Independent School System v. Lane, 266 Ga. 657, 657 (1) (469 S.E.2d 22) (1996) (citing Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. II (1)). Because it appears that the trial court necessarily ruled on the Rohrers' constitutional challenges to OCGA § 36-33-5, jurisdiction over this appeal appears to lie in the Supreme Court. See Wilkes & McHugh v. LTC Consulting, 306 Ga. 252, 257 (1) (c) (830 S.E.2d 119) (2019) (observing that this Court properly transferred the appeal to the Supreme Court based on the plaintiffs' First Amendment challenge to a statute, "which the trial court implicitly rejected" when it entered the order at issue on appeal). As the Supreme Court has the ultimate responsibility for determining appellate jurisdiction, see 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.