Rashundra Young v. Dekalb Leasing Housing Asscociates I, LLP D/B/A the Meridian

Court of Appeals
of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________
February 11, 2026

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A26D0319. RASHUNDRA YOUNG v. DEKALB LEASING HOUSING
ASSOCIATES I, LLP d/b/a THE MERIDIAN.

DeKalb Leasing Housing Associates I, LLP d/b/a The Meridian filed a
dispossessory action in magistrate court against Rashundra Young. The magistrate
court purportedly entered judgment granting DeKalb Leasing a writ of possession.
Young then filed this application for discretionary appeal of the magistrate court’s
order. However, this application must be dismissed.
First, the copy of the magistrate court order Young submitted to this Court is
not stamped “filed,” meaning we have no way of knowing whether or when the
magistrate order was entered. See State v. White, 282 Ga. 859, 860(1) (655 SE2d 575)
(2008) (“Even though an order may be signed, it is not considered to have been
entered and, thus, does not become effective until it is filed with the clerk.”). On
January 23, 2026, this Court issued an order requiring Young to supplement her
application with a stamped “filed” copy of the magistrate order. Our order further
informed Young that failure to file such a copy of the magistrate order within 10 days
of the date of the order would result in the application’s dismissal. Young’s failure to
comply with this order requires that her application be dismissed.
Moreover, ordinarily, the only avenue of appeal available from a magistrate
court judgment is provided by OCGA § 15-10-41(b), which provides for appellate
review in the state or superior court. See Tate v. Habif, 367 Ga. App. 435, 438–39(2)
(886 SE2d 389) (2023). Where a timely application for discretionary appeal represents
an attempt to appeal a magistrate order, this Court will occasionally transfer that
application to the magistrate court with direction to send the appeal to state or
superior court. See Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. I, Par. VIII (“[a]ny court shall
transfer to the appropriate court in the state any civil case in which it determines that
jurisdiction or venue lies elsewhere”); OCGA § 5-3-4 (a) (granting superior and state
courts appellate jurisdiction over final judgments of lower judicatories). Here, we
cannot determine whether or when the magistrate order was entered, and therefore,
decline to transfer the application. For these reasons, the application for discretionary
appeal is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia
Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________
02/11/2026
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.