Kelly Waite v. Gerrard Waite

Court of Appeals
of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________
February 10, 2026
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
A26E0143. KELLY WAITE v. GERRARD WAITE.
Appellant has moved this Court for what is essentially a Writ of Mandamus
seeking the transmission of her notice of appeal and the transcript of proceedings and
the stay of an upcoming hearing. But having reviewed Appellant’s motion, this does
not appear to be one of the rare instances that will invoke this Court’s original
mandamus jurisdiction.
In general, “the superior courts of this state have the power, in proper cases,
to issue process in the nature of mandamus, prohibition, specific performance, quo
warranto, and injunction, and hence the need to resort to the appellate courts for such
relief by petition filed in the appellate courts will be extremely rare.” Brown v.
Johnson, 251 Ga. 436, 436 (306 SE2d 655) (1983). Thus, before seeking to invoke this
Court’s original mandamus jurisdiction, the procedure which must be followed is to
first file the petition in the appropriate lower court. See Graham v. Cavender, 252 Ga.
123, 123 (311 SE2d 832) (1984); Expedia, Inc. v. City of Columbus, 305 Ga. App. 450,
455(2)(b) (699 SE2d 600) (2010) (“Except in the rarest of cases, litigants seeking to
invoke this Court’s original jurisdiction . . . must first petition the superior court for
such relief.”).
In this matter, it does not appear that Appellant filed a petition for a Writ of
Mandamus in the appropriate lower court. Accordingly, Appellant’s petition is hereby
DENIED. See Court of Appeals Rule 40(c)(1).

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia
Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________
02/10/2026
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.