City of Atlanta v. Hector
City of Atlanta v. Hector
Opinion of the Court
Following the superior court’s dismissal of its petition for a writ of certiorari concerning the termination of Agatha Hoyer Hector, the City of Atlanta appeals, contending that the trial court erred by finding that its petition had not been timely filed. For the reasons set forth below, we agree and reverse.
The record shows that, on June 19, 2000, Hector was terminated
OCGA § 5-4-6 (a) states: “All writs of certiorari shall be applied for within 30 days after the final determination of the case in which the error is alleged to have been committed. Applications made after 30 days are not timely and shall be dismissed by the court.” In conjunction with this rule, OCGA § 1-3-1 (d) (3) provides more generally:
Except as otherwise provided by time period computations specifically applying to other laws, when a period of time measured in days, weeks, months, years, or other measurements of time except hours is prescribed for the exercise of any privilege or the discharge of any duty, the first day shall not be counted but the last day shall be counted; and, if the last day falls on Saturday or Sunday, the party having such privilege or duty shall have through the following Monday to exercise the privilege or to discharge the duty. When the last day prescribed for such action falls on a public and legal holiday as set forth in Code Section 1-4-1, the party having the privilege or duty shall have through the next business day to exercise the privilege or to discharge the duty. When the period of time prescribed is less than seven days, intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays shall be excluded in the computation.
It is undisputed that the thirtieth day following the issuance of the Civil Service Board’s order was Thursday, November 23, 2000, Thanksgiving Day of that year. It is also undisputed that the following day, Friday, November 24, 2000, was also a state holiday, and all courts were closed that day. As both of these days constituted holidays as set forth in OCGA § 1-4-1, the City of Atlanta had through the next business day to file its petition. That next business day was Monday, November 27, 2000, the day the City of Atlanta actually filed its petition.
Accordingly, the City of Atlanta timely filed its petition for writ of certiorari in this case, and the superior court’s dismissal of that petition as untimely was improper.
Judgment reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.