Gem City Motors, Inc. v. Minton

137 S.E.2d 522, 109 Ga. App. 842, 1964 Ga. App. LEXIS 1016
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMay 27, 1964
Docket40643
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 137 S.E.2d 522 (Gem City Motors, Inc. v. Minton) 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
Gem City Motors, Inc. v. Minton, 137 S.E.2d 522, 109 Ga. App. 842, 1964 Ga. App. LEXIS 1016 (Ga. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinions

Jordan, Judge.

(a) The plaintiff in this case was seeking damages in tort based upon the fraudulent misrepresentations of the defendant; and in order to set forth a cause of action and to recover, it was necessary for him to allege and prove: (1) that the defendant made the representations; (2) that at the time it knew that they were false (or what the law regards as the equivalent of knowledge); (3) that it made them with the intention and purpose of deceiving the plaintiff; (4) that the plaintiff relied upon such representations; and (5) that the plaintiff sustained the alleged loss and damage as the proximate result of their having been made. Young v. Hall, 4 Ga. 95, 98; Brown v. Ragsdale Motor Co., 65 Ga. App. 727 (16 SE2d 176).

(b) The defendant’s oral motion to dismiss in the nature of a general demurrer was predicated upon the contention that the petition did not set forth a cause of action since it did not allege that the particular agent and salesman of the defendant who made the alleged misrepresentations had actual knowledge of their falsity, it only being alleged that the corporation itself, through its agents and officers had knowledge of the same. It is [845]*845argued by the defendant in this regard that when the fraud of an agent is sought to be imputed to the principal, the fraud must be complete in the agent; that is, the agent who made the alleged false and fraudulent misrepresentation must have knowledge of its falsity.

This contention is without merit. As stated by this court in Walker v. State, 89 Ga. App. 101, 104 (78 SE2d 545): “In this regard, the trend of authority, both in this State and elsewhere, is that, where a corporation is sought to be held in either a civil or criminal action, it cannot escape liability on the ground that the agent who actually’ performed the forbidden act on behalf of the corporation was entirely innocent, in that such agent lacked knowledge which was possessed by other agents of the corporation, or which is attributable to it as being a part of its documents and records. A company is chargeable with the composite knowledge acquired by its officers and agents acting within the scope of their duties.” The petition alleged sufficient knowledge on the part of the defendant corporation, and was not defective for the reasons urged by the defendant in this regard.

(c) It is further contended that the petition failed to set forth a cause of action for the reason that it was not alleged that the plaintiff had made a continuing tender of the automobile to the defendant corporation after the discovery of the alleged fraud. While it is true that in an action based on rescission of contract where the plaintiff seeks to recover the entire purchase money paid, the petition in order to set forth a cause of action must show that a tender of the article received by the purchaser was made to the seller upon discovery of the fraud and that upon the tender being refused, the same was kept good as a continuing-tender, Sutton v. Coleman, 27 Ga. App. 406 (108 SE 803), Warren Co. v. Starling, 98 Ga. App. 371 (3) (106 SE2d 69), it was not necessary in this case to allege tender or a continuing tender of the automobile, since the plaintiff was not seeking the return of the purchase money paid for the automobile. The plaintiff here was seeking as damages the alleged difference in the value of the automobile sold to him and its value if the automobile had been the same as it was represented to be plus punitive damages for the alleged misrepresentation; and his action with respect to [846]*846the damages sought was thus predicated upon an affirmance of the sale contract rather than a rescission of the same. As stated in Tuttle v. Stovall, 134 Ga. 325, 329 (67 SE 806, 20 AC 168): “A suit for damages by the defrauded party for the fraud committed is not a suit for the violation of the contract, but is one for a tort and involves affirmance of the contract, and he may keep the fruits of the contract and maintain an action for the damages suffered by reason of the fraud.”

The allegations of the petition were sufficient to set forth an independent action in tort predicated upon the alleged false and fraudulent misrepresentations of the defendant corporation; and the trial .court did not err in denying the defendant’s oral motion to dismiss in the nature of a general demurrer for any reasons assigned.

The evidence adduced on the trial of this case authorized the verdict for the plaintiff and the trial court did not err in denying the defendant’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and the general grounds of the motion for new trial. The contract of conditional sale executed by the parties designated the automobile purchased by the plaintiff as “N” and the business manager of the defendant corporation testified that this designation meant that the subject of the sale transaction was represented to be either a new automobile or a “demonstrator” as opposed to a “used car.” He further testified that a “demonstrator” was a car which had not been previously customer owned. C. L. Haynie, a witness for the plaintiff, testified that he purchased the subject automobile on April 18, 1960, drove it for approximately 5,200 miles, and returned it to the defendant in trade on another automobile on July 15, 1960. The president of the defendant corporation testified that the automobile sold to Mr. Haynie was later sold to the plaintiff on September 26, 1960, as a “demonstrator”; that the term “demonstrator” indicated that a car had not been previously customer owned; that the car sold to the plaintiff had been previously customer owned; and that the term “demonstrator” was to that extent misleading. The evidence further disclosed that the speedometer reading on the subject vehicle was changed from a reading of approximately 5,200 miles to that of approximately 900 miles by some unknown [847]*847party while the automobile was in the actual or constructive possession of the defendant corporation.

This evidence clearly showed that the automobile sold to the plaintiff was not a “demonstrator” as it was represented to be, but was a “used car”; and the jury was authorized to find from all the facts and circumstances of the case that this misrepresentation was made wilfully with intent to deceive the plaintiff; that he relied upon the misrepresentation without negligence on his part; and that he was damaged as the proximate result of the same.

It is contended by the defendant corporation, however, that the plaintiff was precluded as a matter of law from proving fraud in the sale transaction because of the following provision of the contract of sale: “No warranties, express or implied, and no representations, promises, or statements have been made by seller unless indorsed hereon in writing. . . No modification of any of the terms or conditions hereof shall be valid in any event, and buyer expressly waives the right to rely thereon, unless made in writing duly executed by seller.” In support of this contention the defendant relies on the case of Brown v. Ragsdale Motor Co., 65 Ga. App. 727, supra.

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Bluebook (online)
137 S.E.2d 522, 109 Ga. App. 842, 1964 Ga. App. LEXIS 1016, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gem-city-motors-inc-v-minton-gactapp-1964.