American Credit Corp. v. United States Casualty Co.

49 F.R.D. 314, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13515
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedDecember 31, 1969
DocketCiv. A. No. 10238
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 49 F.R.D. 314 (American Credit Corp. v. United States Casualty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Credit Corp. v. United States Casualty Co., 49 F.R.D. 314, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13515 (N.D. Ga. 1969).

Opinion

ALBERT J. HENDERSON, Jr., District Judge.

ORDER

Presently before the court is a partial motion for summary judgment, pursuant to which the court must decide whether the various theories asserted in the counterclaim of the defendant Beverly fail to present a genuine issue of material fact. But first, the court must decide whether the claim for defamation of character in the counterclaim was barred by the statute of limitations, and whether the amendment to the counterclaim was timely. The court decides all questions against Beverly, the counter-claimant.

Plaintiff American Credit Corporation (hereinafter referred to as American Credit) initiated this action to recover under two Brokers Blanket Bonds issued by defendant United States Casualty Company. The bonds had been issued to insure the plaintiff against losses resulting from “dishonest acts” of its employees. The complaint was filed on June 24, 1966, and initially named as defendant only the United States Casualty Company (hereinafter referred to as U. S. Casualty). On June 27,. 1968, the complaint was amended to join as a defendant William R. Beverly, who was alleged to have caused the plaintiff losses as a result of specified dishonest and fraudulent acts. (Beverly was a former employee of American Discount Company, which had merged into American Credit.) On July 26, 1968, Beverly filed an answer to the complaint, which included a counterclaim against American Credit, alleging that it had “influenced, pursuaded and induced” three successive employers of Beverly during the period since his employment with plaintiff, to discharge him from their employ, thereby wrongfully depriving him of his means of obtaining livelihood. In addition, he alleged that plaintiff had contacted his friends and associates, charging him with dishonest acts, and had harassed him on the job and while at home in such a manner as to affect his relationship with business associates, friends, and family.

In response to the counterclaim, American Credit filed interrogatories addressed to Beverly, in which it inquired of him the nature of such communications, and from whom they were made, and to whom. On March 5, 1969, Beverly filed his answers to these interrogatories, naming eleven individuals to whom such communications had been made and five representatives of American Credit whom he alleged to have made such communications. In response to Beverly's answers to its interrogatories, plaintiff filed affidavits of a num[316]*316ber of individuals. In fact, these affidavits were obtained from all except five of the persons named in Beverly’s answers to its interrogatories. Of these five, two had died, and three, Smith, Farthing and Williams, could not, after “diligent efforts by the plaintiff”, be located.

In addition to these affidavits, American Credit relies on Beverly’s deposition, taken by it in three parts, on January 16, January 21, and April 23, 1969. In support of its motion, plaintiff points to the fact that, in his deposition, Beverly could not state that he had any personal, independent knowledge that any representative of American Credit had contacted any individual which he had named, or that any individual had been contacted by American Credit at all. To the contrary, Beverly asserted in his deposition that he had a “belief” that such communications had been made, but reiterated that he had no personal, independent knowledge of any communications.

After the plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment was filed, Beverly filed an amendment to his counterclaim, which the court allowed, subject to objection. Defendant has objected, moving to strike the amendment to the counterclaim. In essence, the amendment to the counterclaim states that American Credit had harassed Beverly in that it had made a number of phone calls to his home and to his work, accusing him of dishonesty, fraud against his employer, and of general bad character. As a result, Beverly alleged that he had reached the point of ruination of family and credit, severe emotional distress, mental pain and suffering, that he had been constantly upset, in a state of nervousness and anxiety, and that he had suffered from headaches, loss of sleep, indigestion and weight loss. Beverly alleged that these acts had been wanton, malicious and intentional acts on the part of plaintiff, and that they had caused him to be unable to satisfactorily perform his work, and together with other reasons, had caused him to be discharged from employment three times. Beverly claimed that this treatment of him amounted to an invasion of his right to privacy, and an intentional infliction of mental distress upon him. He asked punitive damages in order to deter the plaintiff from repeating these acts.

Plaintiff strenuously objected to the interposition of the amendment to the counterclaim at a time at which its previously filed motion for summary judgment was pending. It alleged that Beverly had not been diligent in his pursuit of his counterclaim, and that the court should not allow the piecemeal assertion of legal theories in support of Beverly’s position.

In response, Beverly took the position that the amendment to the counterclaim was based on the same factual framework on which the original counterclaim had been based. He asserted that under the theory of notice pleading, the plaintiff had been on notice of all theories which might have been asserted under those facts.

Thus the court must decide four issues: (1) Will the amendment to the counterclaim be allowed as timely or will the plaintiff’s motion to strike be granted? (2) Did the Georgia statute of limitations on injuries to the reputation, Ga.Code Ann. § 3-1004 (Supp.1969), bar Beverly from bringing his counterclaim, at least to the extent that it was based on injury to reputation? (3) Do American Credit’s affidavits, together with Beverly’s lack of independent knowledge that the alleged communications took place between representatives of American Credit and his employers, eliminate any genuine issue of material fact, such that it can be said that, under neither the theory of wrongful interference with livelihood nor the theory of defamation of character, could a jury find for the plaintiff? (4) Is there any genuine issue of material fact as to [317]*317the theories of invasion of privacy and the intentional infliction of emotional harm?

In its complaint, plaintiff stated that, from approximately June 8, 1968, until December 31, 1964, it sustained losses in the aggregate amount of $52,030.22, as the result of the dishonest and fraudulent acts of Beverly, the employee of American Discount, which had merged into it. However, plaintiff asserts that it did not discover these acts of Beverly until or about July 8, 1965, as to a portion of these losses, and continued to discover additional loss until about September 16, 1965. On August 2, 1966, Beverly executed an affidavit, in which he stated at some length how he had defrauded American Discount by accepting $25.00 kickbacks from car salesmen for accepting otherwise unacceptable applications for credit to facilitate car sales, by forging and cashing checks, by falsifying other applications for credit, by cashing checks intended for application to outstanding loans due American Discount, and similar acts. Beverly stated that his affidavit confirmed a number of earlier statements made by him, and that it was made without promise, threat, or coercion.

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Bluebook (online)
49 F.R.D. 314, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13515, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-credit-corp-v-united-states-casualty-co-gand-1969.