Allen v. Shepherd, A23A0463, 2023 WL 3963848 (Ga. Ct. App. June 13, 2023)
Jeffrey D. Allen appeals from the Superior Court of Gwinnett County’s grant of a motion to dismiss his verified petition for mandamus. In this petition, he sought to compel Clerk of Norcross Municipal Court Maurice Shepherd and Norcross City Manager Eric Johnson (collectively “the Clerk”) to properly process his notice of direct appeal from a municipal court judgment, and to transmit it and the record to the superior court.1 For the reasons that follow, we reverse the dismissal.
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Allen argues that the trial court erred in dismissing his mandamus petition. He contends that the municipal court Clerk had a duty to process the appeal in accordance with the law, and that the Clerk lacked the authority to decide the procedural or jurisdictional propriety of his appeal, as that task belongs to the superior court upon receipt of the notice of appeal. We agree.