Casey Ates v. Fulton County Superior Court

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia ATLANTA,____________________ January 09, 2018 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A18A0961. CASEY ATES v. FULTON COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT. Prisoner Casey Ates has filed an original mandamus petition in this Court. In the petition, Ates states that in 2010, he obtained a judgment in Bibb County Superior Court, presumably against the State. In 2017, Ates filed a “claim” in Fulton County Superior Court seeking to collect the judgment.1 According to Ates, the Fulton County Superior Court “refuse[d] to prosecute [his] claim.” Ates, however, has not included any order from Fulton County Superior Court disposing of his claim. Ates asks us to “order that [his] claim be heard fairly under the law.” “Generally, the superior courts of this state have the power, in proper cases, to issue process in the nature of mandamus, prohibition, specific performance, quo warranto, and injunction, and hence the need to resort to the appellate courts for such relief by petition filed in the appellate courts will be extremely rare.” Brown v. Johnson, 251 Ga. 436, 436 (306 SE2d 655) (1983). Based on the limited information that Ates has provided us, it does not appear that this is one of the extremely rare instances in which this Court will exercise original mandamus jurisdiction. See Gay v. Owens, 292 Ga. 480, 483 (2) (738 SE2d 614) (2013). Until such time as Ates has pursued formal relief in superior court and obtained a ruling thereon, there is no basis 1 It is not clear whether Ates’s “claim” took the form of a proposed complaint. for this Court to exercise jurisdiction. See Brown, 251 Ga. at 437. Accordingly, this petition is hereby DISMISSED. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 01/09/2018 I certify that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia. Witness my signature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written. , Clerk.