Evans Motors of Georgia Inc. v. Hamilton

62 S.E.2d 390, 82 Ga. App. 735, 1950 Ga. App. LEXIS 1199
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedDecember 5, 1950
Docket33070
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 62 S.E.2d 390 (Evans Motors of Georgia Inc. v. Hamilton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Evans Motors of Georgia Inc. v. Hamilton, 62 S.E.2d 390, 82 Ga. App. 735, 1950 Ga. App. LEXIS 1199 (Ga. Ct. App. 1950).

Opinions

Worrill, J.

On April 9, 1948, the plaintiff, Evans Motors of Geoi’gia, purchased two Chevrolet automobiles paying therefor the sum of $4250. The bills of sale to the plaintiff on the two automobiles were signed by C. A. Callahan, as seller, and the check paying for them was made payable to the order of Callahan and was endorsed, “Pay to the order of the Citizens & Southern National Bank 200-1620 Mitchell Street Office 200-1620 Atlanta, Georgia, Hamilton Used Cars—Charles Hamilton.” Subsequently the plaintiff resold the two automobiles to third parties and thereafter it developed that the automobiles had been stolen in South Georgia. Because of this fact, Evans had to purchase the titles to the automobiles from the true owners, and, having done this, the plaintiff made demand upon the defendant, Charles Hamilton, for reimbursement for this loss. All of these facts are admitted by way of stipulation.

Hamilton denied liability on the transaction, and Evans sued [736]*736him on the warranty of title to the two automobiles, and, upon the trial of the case, substantially the following additional facts appeared: Callahan had been employed by Evans as sales manager but had been desirous of making a change. He went to the defendant, Charles Hamilton, who operated a used car lot a short distance from Evans’ lot and sought an arrangement with Hamilton. Pursuant to these talks Callahan moved to Hamilton’s lot and engaged in the business of buying and selling used automobiles. Under the agreement, Callahan testified that his arrangement was to buy and sell automobiles on a 50-50 basis, and, except for the first $25 profit on each automobile sold by him, which he was to pay to Hamilton, they were to split the profit made on each automobile, each taking half of it. He also testified that, under his arrangement with Hamilton, he was to assist Mr. Rodgers, a salaried employee of Hamilton, who, under the evidence, had charge of Hamilton’s interests at the used car lot in Hamilton’s absence, by answering the telephone when he was out and by doing anything else that came up that Rodgers might need assistance in; that he bought and sold cars; that he didn’t have a license to do business but operated under Hamilton’s license; that he had no sign on the lot and his name did not appear anywhere in connection with the business; that he sold any car on the lot, whether or not it was one he had bought or one purchased by Hamilton or one of the other men working on the lot; that when he bought cars the money came from Hamilton; that when Hamilton was out of town he got the money by using signed checks that Hamilton had left in the care of Rodgers; that on such occasions he would simply fill in the amount and payee of the check over Hamilton’s signature; that Hamilton issued the regulations for the operation of the lot; that he, Callahan, did not own the two cars sold on the occasion in question, Hamilton owned them; that he didn’t individually own any of the cars that were sold; that there was no agreement between him and Hamilton as to how long the arrangement would continue but that Hamilton could have stopped the arrangement at any time by simply refraining from writing any more checks; that under his agreement with Hamilton he had the authority to buy and sell any cars that he pleased; that Hamilton did not tell him when to be at work, [737]*737it was up to him; that as to whether the only arrangement he had with Hamilton was that he was to provide up to $15,000 for him to buy and sell automobiles, he didn’t remember any particular amount, though he had said that he had not drawn that amount; that he had authority to buy and sell automobiles in his own name; that when he was at Hamilton’s lot no Social Security tax was taken out of his earnings or paid by Hamilton; that “The direct arrangement I had with Mr. Hamilton was that he would supply the money or do the financing for these automobiles, and as consideration for furnishing that location and facilities and as rent he received one-half of the profits of the deals that I had made in the month immediately prior to the time we settled up after his $25 deduction was made”; that he bought and sold the two automobiles involved in this suit; that Hamilton was not even in town at that time; that, except for an automobile which he bought for his personal use and later sold, he never bought any automobiles with his own money; that when he first went to work on this lot, several cars were “assigned” to' him for sale, cars that he had not himself bought; that he did not agree at any time to bear any losses in the transactions involved.

In regard to their agreement, Hamilton testified: that Callahan came to him very dissatisfied with his connection with Evans Motors, saying that he knew some people that would supply him late model cars at a better figure than he could buy them ordinarily, and asked Hamilton to furnish him the money to buy and sell automobiles and that he agreed to do that, agreeing to furnish up to $15,000; that “As to how he was to get the money, who he was to get it from, well, he bought some cars and I paid for the cars for him. He kept his own records and I kept up with the amounts of money that he drew”; that Callahan was not working for him as an employee, but was for himself; that he bought automobiles as C. A. Callahan and he didn’t tell him when to come or when to go and had no jurisdiction over his working hours; that he did not deduct or withhold Social Security tax from his commissions because he was not an employee; that Callahan paid rent and that for that he had the use of a very valuable location, had porters, facilities for operating a business office, space, and the use of a telephone; [738]*738that the porter service consisted of polishing the cars and getting them ready for sale; that they did not advertise the cars in the papers; that the $25 per car was rent with a minimum of $200 a month which took care of 8 cars, and if he sold more cars than that he paid more rent; that in addition to that his agreement was to split the earnings that he made with the $15,000; that he, Hamilton, had no jurisdiction over Callahan; that he was not present when the two cars in question were bought and sold; that he never authorized Callahan to execute bills of sale and just sign his individual name in behalf of Hamilton; that if Callahan bought an automobile for $1800 and was only able to sell it for $1600 he would look to Callahan for the full $1800; that if an automobile was purchased by Callahan and stolen from the lot it would have been Callahan’s loss; that Callahan was in business for himself and he, Hamilton, had nothing whatever to do with how Callahan operated; that the two automobiles involved in this case were Callahan’s automobiles and not his.

As will be seen from this resumé of Callahan’s and Hamilton’s testimony, while there was some agreement between them, there was also considerable conflict as to the details and ultimate effect of the arrangement. Rodgers testified that Hamilton carried insurance on all the automobiles on the lot and Austin, the plaintiff’s agent who negotiated the purchase of the two automobiles in question, testified that he thought he was dealing with Hamilton and that he would not have purchased the two automobiles from Callahan unless he had checked into the titles, but he admitted that he knew nothing of the agreement between Callahan and Hamilton or how they were operating. Under instructions eliminating the question of a partnership between Callahan and Hamilton from their consideration, the jury returned a verdict for the defendant. The court overruled the plaintiff’s motion for a new trial as amended and the sole exception here is to that ruling.

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Bluebook (online)
62 S.E.2d 390, 82 Ga. App. 735, 1950 Ga. App. LEXIS 1199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evans-motors-of-georgia-inc-v-hamilton-gactapp-1950.