Nbcuniversal Media, LLC v. Hevekiah Walker

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia ATLANTA,____________________ May 11, 2026 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A26A1843. NBCUNIVERSAL MEDIA, LLC v. HEVEKIAH WALKER.

Appellant NBCUniversal Media, LLC (“NBCU”) appeals from the trial court’s order denying its motion to set aside a default judgment entered against it in an amount in excess of $500,000 in a continuing garnishment action. NBCU’s motion under OCGA § 9-11-60(d)(3) raised both facial and as-applied constitutional challenges to Georgia’s continuing garnishment default statute, OCGA § 18-4-43(a), based upon the due process clauses of the federal and Georgia constitutions and the Georgia Constitution’s Excessive Fines Clause. The Supreme Court of Georgia transferred the appeal to this Court, finding that its jurisdiction had not been invoked since the trial court did not enter a ruling on NBCU’s constitutional challenge.

“The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute is wholly void and of no force and effect from the date it was enacted.”Hosp. Auth. of Gwinnett County v. Rapson, 283 Ga. App. 297, 299(3) (641 SE2d 286) (2007) (quoting Strickland v. Newton County, 244 Ga. 54, 55(1) (258 SE2d 132) (1979)). To the extent that the constitutional challenge was raised but not ruled upon below, and the constitutionality of the continuing garnishment statute must be addressed to determine the validity of the judgment, we remand this case to the trial court for its consideration of the constitutional questions in the first instance. See Barnes v. Bearden, 357 Ga. App. 99, 105-106(2) (850 SE2d 181) (2020) (remanding case for the trial court to consider the constitutional question in the first instance since such questions must first be addressed in the trial court, not on appeal).

SO ORDERED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 05/11/2026 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.