MILLER, Judge.
After obtaining an arbitration award in its favor, Warehouseboy Trading, Inc. d/b/a Solutionbuilt.com ("Warehouseboy") filed an application in state court to initiate arbitration award confirmation proceedings against Gew Fitness, LLC f/k/a Sonz Fitness Center-Decatur, LLC ("Gew Fitness") pursuant to the Georgia Arbitration Code, OCGA § 9-9-12. Warehouseboy voluntarily dismissed its original state court application and later refiled it in superior court pursuant to the renewal provisions of OCGA § 9-2-61(a). Gew Fitness moved to dismiss Warehouseboy's renewed application on the grounds that it was time-barred by the one-year statute of limitation set forth in OCGA § 9-9-12. The superior court granted Gew Fitness's motion. Warehouseboy appeals, contending that the superior court erred in dismissing its application since Warehouseboy was permitted to renew its original application under the renewal statute. For the reasons set forth
The record shows that on May 18, 2009, Warehouseboy was awarded $10,150 pursuant to an arbitration clause in a website design agreement between Warehouseboy and Gew Fitness. In October 2009, Warehouseboy commenced a proceeding to confirm the award in DeKalb County State Court. On June 23, 2010, Gew Fitness filed a motion to dismiss the DeKalb County proceeding on the grounds that the state court did not have subject matter jurisdiction.
On December 17, 2010, Warehouseboy filed a renewal proceeding in Cobb County Superior Court to confirm the award of the arbitrator. Gew Fitness filed another motion to dismiss on the grounds that Warehouseboy's application to confirm the award was not brought within one year of its delivery by the arbitrator.
On appeal, Warehouseboy challenges the superior court's ruling, contending that Warehouseboy was permitted to renew its original application under the renewal provisions of OCGA § 9-2-61(a), (c).
(Punctuation omitted.) Moreover, although the privilege of dismissal and renewal does not apply to void cases,
Here, the superior court found that because DeKalb County State Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over Warehouseboy's original application, the original action was void and could not be renewed under OCGA § 9-2-61(a). The superior court further found that OCGA § 9-2-61 (c) could not save Warehouseboy's renewed application because there was no evidence on the record that the DeKalb County State Court action was in fact dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
As an initial matter, we note that since the renewed application did not indicate whether the state court action was dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, the superior court clearly considered matters beyond Warehouseboy's renewed application in ruling
Thus, "the standard of review as to the issues on appeal is whether the record supports the conclusion that there was no genuine issue of material fact, and that viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to [Warehouseboy], [Gew Fitness] was entitled to judgment as a matter of law." (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Morrell v. Wellstar Health System, Inc., 280 Ga.App. 1, 2-3(1), 633 S.E.2d 68 (2006).
So viewed, the undisputed facts show that Warehouseboy filed its renewed application well over a year after the May 18, 2009, delivery of Warehouseboy's arbitration award, and as such, well over the one-year statute of limitation set forth in OCGA § 9-9-12. It is also undisputed that Warehouseboy's original state court application was void. That is, since OCGA § 9-9-4(a)(1) requires any application to the court under the Georgia Arbitration Code to be made in the superior court of the county where venue lies, DeKalb County State Court clearly lacked subject matter jurisdiction over Warehouseboy's original application. See Collins, supra, 186 Ga.App. at 852(2), 368 S.E.2d 772 ("[W]here a court does not have jurisdiction of the subject matter, the whole proceeding is [] void.") (Citation and punctuation omitted). Therefore, Warehouseboy's original action was incapable of being renewed pursuant to subsection (a) of the renewal statute. See Reid, supra, 223 Ga.App. at 205(1), 477 S.E.2d 369 (privilege of dismissal and renewal under OCGA § 9-2-61(a) does not apply to void cases).
Consequently, OCGA § 9-2-61(c) provided the only avenue by which Warehouseboy could have resurrected its original void action under the renewal statute. As such, Warehouseboy was required to show that its original state court application was "dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction[.]" (Punctuation omitted.) OCGA § 9-2-61(c). Although the record does not contain a copy of Warehouseboy's voluntary dismissal, the parties do not dispute that the document failed to expressly state that the dismissal was based upon a lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Cf. Elder v. Cardoso, 205 Ga.App. 144, 148-149(7), 421 S.E.2d 753 (1992) (concluding that where the record failed to disclose a copy of any final order showing that appellant's prior federal action had been dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, "the basis for the purported dismissal of the federal action remain[ed] unproven and a genuine issue of
Notwithstanding the absence of an order with this express language, Warehouseboy nevertheless contends that certain undisputed circumstances surrounding its voluntary dismissal reflect that it was in fact based upon a lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Indeed, the record reflects that Gew Fitness filed a motion to dismiss the original state court application based upon a lack of subject matter jurisdiction. In response, Warehouseboy conceded that the original application had been filed in the wrong court and initially sought to transfer the proceeding to the superior court. On the day that Gew Fitness's motion to dismiss was scheduled to be heard, however, counsel for Warehouseboy announced that he was going to file a voluntary dismissal without prejudice, and he did so two days later. As noted above, however, the dismissal document made no indication that the state court application was being dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
Over five months later, when Warehouseboy filed the application as a renewal action in the superior court, Warehouseboy again failed to specify that the original state court action had been dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction or that it was subject to renewal under subsection (c) of the renewal statute. It was only after Gew Fitness moved to dismiss the renewed application, specifically in Warehouseboy's response to the motion and at the motion to dismiss hearing before the superior court, when Warehouseboy finally raised subsection (c) and indicated that the reason it voluntarily dismissed the original application was because DeKalb County State Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction.
We conclude that the above circumstances, when viewed in the light most favorable to Warehouseboy, establish that its original state court application was in fact dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Accordingly, Warehouseboy's application to confirm its arbitration award was a valid renewal action pursuant to OCGA § 9-2-61(c), thereby tolling the applicable one-year statute of limitation. For these reasons, the trial court's dismissal of Warehouseboy's renewed application was improper.
Judgment reversed.
MIKELL, P.J., and BLACKWELL, J., concur.