Exum v. City of Valdosta, 36103
| Decision Date | 16 July 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 36103,36103 |
| Citation | 246 Ga. 169,269 S.E.2d 441 |
| Parties | EXUM v. CITY OF VALDOSTA et al. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Fletcher Farrington, Savannah, for appellant.
George T. Talley, Valdosta, for appellees.
On March 26, 1979, James Exum filed a complaint in the Superior Court of Lowndes County against the City of Valdosta seeking an injunction against the City's violation of a 1973 ordinance and a writ of mandamus compelling the City to perform its duty under said ordinance.
Following the filing of its answer, the City moved for summary judgment against the entirety of Mr. Exum's complaint on the ground that Exum's suit for injunction and mandamus was barred by his failure to exhaust administrative remedies.
The trial court granted the City's motion for summary judgment and Exum filed a notice of appeal. When, subsequently, the City filed a motion to dismiss Exum's appeal for the latter's failure to pay the costs in the trial court, the trial court heard evidence and found as fact that Exum's attorney had received the bill of court costs by registered mail on October 15, 1979, and had paid the bill on November 13, 1979.
Code Ann. § 6-809(b) contains the following proviso: "provided, however, that no appeal shall be dismissed for failure to pay costs if costs are paid within 20 days (exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) of receipt by the appellant of notice, mailed by registered or certified mail, of the amount of costs."
The trial court interpreted the proviso's parenthetical as excluding from computation only those Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays upon which the 20th day would otherwise fall. Accordingly, the trial court dismissed Exum's appeal on the grounds that his November 13 payment was untimely (Nov. 5 being the 20th day) and that the untimeliness was unreasonable, inexcusable, and caused solely by Exum. See Code Ann. § 6-809(b).
Exum appeals both the trial court's grant of summary judgment and the trial court's dismissal of his appeal from said grant. While we reverse the trial court's dismissal of Exum's appeal, we affirm the original grant of summary judgment.
1. Exum argues that the proviso's parenthetical excludes from computation all Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays following the commencement of the twenty-day time period, and that, consequently, the trial court erred in holding that his November 13, 1979 payment was untimely. (It is undisputed that if all Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays following the commencement of the twenty-day time period are excluded, the November 13, 1979 payment was in fact timely, November 13 being the 20th day.)
Code Ann. § 102-102(8) provides that ...
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