Crisis Averted: Court of Appeals Acts to Restore Access to Appellate Courts

The Court of Appeals has now incorporated into its rules the Supreme Court rule that circumvents the $10/page charge. The Supreme Court rule, which is adapted from a bar proposal I drafted, allows party-created records. The rule adopted by the Court of Appeals is even more important than the one adopted by the Supreme Court, because most appeals go first to the Court of Appeals.

The rule adopted by the Court of Appeals provides, “Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in these rules, this Court will accept for consideration on the merits of any appeal any record or substitute therefor which the Supreme Court of Georgia accepts under its rules.”

The Court of Appeals acted in the nick of time. The first cost bills under the new statute are coming due now.

These rules are not defiance of the legislature. On the contrary, several leaders of the General Assembly, acknowledging their mistake in passing the $10/page fee, urged the appellate courts to adopt such rules. According to the AJC, Rep. Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs), chair of the house Judiciary Committee, acknowledged the legislature’s mistake and described the Supreme Court rule as “a great solution” that “could be a permanent one.”