Denhardt v. Residential Funding Co.

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EDDIE DENHARDT v. RESIDENTIAL FUNDING COMPANY, LLC.

No. A23A1280

Court of Appeals of Georgia

May 8, 2023

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

In 2017, non-party Principal Lien Services obtained a default judgment against Residential Funding Company, LLC ("RFC") in a garnishment action, and later assigned its interest in the judgment to Eddie Denhardt. In July 2022 Denhardt filed a complaint in superior court, seeking a money judgment against RFC in the amount of the original garnishment. RFC failed to file an answer, and Denhardt moved for default judgment. Following a hearing, the trial court denied the motion and decided, sua sponte, that the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and directed the clerk to close the case. Denhardt filed this direct appeal. We lack jurisdiction.

Appeals in cases involving garnishment must be initiated by an application for discretionary appeal filed with this Court. OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (4); Maloy v. Ewing, 226 Ga.App. 490, 491 (486 S.E.2d 708) (1997). See also Prison Health Svcs. v. Ga. Dept. of Administrative Svcs., 265 Ga. 810, 811 (1) (462 S.E.2d 601) (1995) (an order is subject to the discretionary appeal procedure "if the underlying subject matter of the appeal is one contained in OCGA §...