Yolanda Carter v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia ATLANTA,____________________ November 13, 2017 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A17A1369. CARTER v. BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM OF GEORGIA et al. Following the termination of her employment with Albany State University, Yolanda Carter filed a lawsuit against the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, Arthur Dunning, the Interim President of Albany State University, and Chanta Haywood, the Interim Vice-President of the Office of Institutional Advancement at Albany State University. In her complaint, Carter asserts claims for mandamus, declaratory relief, and permanent injunctive relief. Subsequently, the trial court dismissed Carter’s complaint, explicitly ruling that her claims for declaratory and injunctive relief were barred by the doctrine of sovereign immunity and that her claim for mandamus lacked merit. On November 18, 2016, Carter filed a notice of appeal to this Court. However, cases involving the grant of denial of mandamus, in which the notice of appeal was filed prior to January 1, 2017, “are within the exclusive jurisdiction of [the Supreme Court of Georgia] without regard to the underlying subject matter or the legal issues raised.” Ladzinske v. Allen, 280 Ga. 264 (626 SE2d 83) (2006) (punctuation omitted); see Ga. Const. Art. VI, § VI, ¶ III (5); OCGA § 15-3-3.1 (a) (4), (6) (granting the Court of Appeals subject matter jurisdiction over cases involving extraordinary remedies, such as mandamus, and other enumerated cases for notices of appeal filed on or after January 1, 2017); Ga. L. 2016, Act 626, §§ 3-1. Accordingly, this appeal is hereby TRANSFERRED to the Supreme Court of Georgia for disposition. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 11/13/2017 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.