Georgia Court of Appeals, 1997

Gray v. Springs

Georgia Court of Appeals · Decided January 30, 1997 · McMurray

224 Ga. App. 427; 481 S.E.2d 3; 97 Fulton County D. Rep. 384; 1997 Ga. App. LEXIS 106

Cases that cite this one

23 later published cases cite this decision.

In the Interest Of: T. L., a Child (Ga. Ct. App. 2017)
Trace McCune v. Ashton Mitchell Johnson (Ga. Ct. App. 2026)
David Moynihan v. Ilya Goussev (Ga. Ct. App. 2024)
T.C., INDIVIDUALLY v. ATHENS HOUSING AUTHORITY A/K/A HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF ATHENS (Ga. Ct. App. 2023)
Ellen E. Lee v. Bennett J. Lee (Ga. Ct. App. 2020)
Keith Peek v. Jackson County, Georgia (Ga. Ct. App. 2019)
In re Ronald Wyttenbach (Ga. Ct. App. 2018)
Sabrina Jones-Smith v. Pamela Staley Crockett (Ga. Ct. App. 2018)
Tony L. Ware v. C.R. Asset Group, LLC (Ga. Ct. App. 2017)
Christine Metter v. Loni D. Metter (Ga. Ct. App. 2017)
Annarese Ashford v. Wilmington Saving Funds Society Fsb (Ga. Ct. App. 2016)
Paul Rowe v. Novin Construction, LLC (Ga. Ct. App. 2016)
Sharon Bush Ellison v. State (Ga. Ct. App. 2016)
Anis Tamri v. Real Estate Investors Group, Inc. F/K/A David W. Pittman (Ga. Ct. App. 2016)
Marty Smith v. Intown Consulting Group, LLC (Ga. Ct. App. 2016)
Tyra Crawl v. Capital City Bank & Trust Company (Ga. Ct. App. 2015)
Susan Landrith v. Linda Urioste (Ga. Ct. App. 2015)
Tobias Hayden v. State (Ga. Ct. App. 2015)
Willie F. Wright, Jr. v. Kenya L. Young (Ga. Ct. App. 2015)
Deedra Meadows Fuller v. Rodney Darrell Fuller (Ga. Ct. App. 2013)
Janna Brook Park v. Tracy Blake Bailey (Ga. Ct. App. 2013)
Mays v. Rancine-Kinchen (Ga. 2012)
Croft v. Croft (Ga. Ct. App. 2009)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

McMurray, Presiding Judge.

William Terry Springs filed a petition for legitimation of Lana M. Gray Darby’s (“the mother”) minor child, alleging “it would be in the best interest of his [child] that a pattern of regular visitation be established.” The mother denied the material allegations of this petition, asserted a claim for termination of Springs’ parental rights, and the mother’s husband, Gregory Scott Darby, filed a petition to adopt the minor child. After a hearing, the trial court entered an order granting Springs’ petition for legitimization, denying the mother’s claim for termination of Springs’ parental rights and denying Gregory Scott Darby’s adoption petition. The trial court reserved ruling on the issues of custody and visitation. The mother and Gregory Scott Darby filed this direct appeal. Held:

Springs has filed a motion to dismiss this appeal based on the mother’s and Gregory Scott Darby’s failure to obtain a certificate of immediate review from the trial court’s interlocutory order as required by OCGA § 5-6-34 (b).

“ ‘[A] party seeking appellate review from an interlocutory order must follow the interlocutory-application subsection, OCGA § 5-6-34 (b), seek a certificate of immediate review from the trial court, and comply with the time limitations therein.’ Scruggs [v. Ga. Dept. of Human Resources, 261 Ga. 587, 589 (408 SE2d 103)].” Bailey v. Bailey, 266 Ga. 832, 833 (471 SE2d 213). The trial court’s order in the case sub judice is interlocutory because it reserves ruling on the issues of custody and visitation. However, neither the mother nor *428Gregory Scott Darby obtained a certificate of immediate review from the trial court as required by OCGA § 5-6-34 (b). This appeal must therefore be dismissed as premature. See Bailey v. Bailey, 266 Ga. 832, 833, supra.

Decided January 30, 1997. Robert J. Erb, for appellants. Donaldson, Herndon, Bell & Metis, James C. Metis III, for appellee.

Appeal dismissed.

Ruffin, J., and Senior Appellate Judge Harold R. Banke concur.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.