The Langdale companies1 appeal from an order of the Superior Court of Lowndes County dismissing the companies’ notice of appeal. The Langdale companies contend the trial court abused its discretion in dismissing the appeal, arguing that, under the totality of the circumstances, the 64-day delay in paying its bill of costs was neither unreasonable nor inexcusable. We disagree and affirm. A trial court may dismiss an appeal, after notice and an opportunity for a hearing, “where there has been an unreasonable delay in the transmission of the record to the appellate court, and it is seen that the delay was inexcusable and was caused by the failure of a party to pay costs in the trial court or file an affidavit of indigence.” OCGA § 5-6-48 c. A trial court’s decision to grant or to deny a motion to dismiss an appeal under this Code section is reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard. Battaglia v. Duke , 230 Ga. App. 667, 669 1 497 SE2d 250 1998. “When making factual determinations based upon evidence presented at a hearing on the question of dismissal, the trial court is vested with a broad discretion to decide whether the appeal should be dismissed.” Punctuation and footnote omitted. Park Regency Partners v. Gruber , 271 Ga. App. 66, 70 1 608 SE2d 667 2004. Absent an abuse of such discretion, the trial court’s decision will not be disturbed on appeal. Id.
The undisputed facts relevant to the resolution of this dispute are as follows. On July 31, 2006, William Pope Langdale, Sr., and Robert Harley Langdale, as directors and shareholders of the Langdale companies, sought corporate documents to investigate allegations of fraud, mismanagement, and conflicts of interest to determine whether certain corporate officers had breached their fiduciary duties. When they were not allowed to see the requested records, they filed with the Superior Court of Lowndes County a Verified Application for Inspection of Books and Records pursuant to OCGA § 14-2-1604 on February 20, 2007. The trial court held a hearing on the application on April 10, 2007, and on October 5, 2007, entered an order directing the companies to allow Robert Langdale to inspect certain corporate records within 60 days of the issuance of the order. The trial court entered an order and final judgment on December 27, 2007, further ordering the companies to pay $145,000 in attorney fees pursuant to OCGA § 14-2-1604 c. On January 25, 2008, the companies filed an appeal from the judgment. The companies requested that nothing be omitted from the record on appeal, including a transcript of the April 10, 2007 hearing. On May 9, 2008, the transcript was filed.
