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Georgia Cases May 24, 2023: Portillo v. Raffensperger

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Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
Date: May 24, 2023

Case Description

1

LORI PORTILLO
v.
BRAD RAFFENSPERGER et al.

No. A23A1510

Court of Appeals of Georgia

May 24, 2023

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

The day after early voting began in the November 2022 general election, Lori Portillo filed a lawsuit against Brad Raffensperger and the Cherokee County Board of Elections, seeking declaratory judgment and injunctive relief regarding the use of the voting machines. On November 8, 2022 nunc pro tunc to November 7, 2022, the trial court entered an order denying Portillo's lawsuit. Portillo filed a motion for reconsideration, which the trial court denied on March 1, 2023. On March 31, 2023, Portillo filed a notice of appeal in the Supreme Court of Georgia, which found no basis for its jurisdiction and transferred the appeal to this Court. See Case No. S23A0824 (April 20, 2023). We, however, also lack jurisdiction.

A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of the entry of the appealable decision. OCGA § 5-6-38 (a). "The proper and timely filing of a notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer jurisdiction upon an appellate court." Perlman v. Perlman , 318 Ga.App. 731, 739 (4) (734 S.E.2d 560) (2012) (citation and punctuation omitted). Portillo's failure to file a notice of appeal within 30 days of the entry of the trial court's order dismissing her action deprives us of jurisdiction. Although Portillo filed her notice of appeal within 30 days of the order denying her motion for reconsideration, the denial of such a motion is not a directly appealable judgment and the filing of such a motion does not toll the time for filing a direct appeal. See Ferguson v. Freeman , 282 Ga. 180, 181 (1) (646 S.E.2d 65) (2007); Bell v. Cohran , 244 Ga.App. 510, 510 (536 S.E.2d 187) (2000).

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Accordingly, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction.

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