Irwin v. Young

87 S.E.2d 322, 91 Ga. App. 773, 1955 Ga. App. LEXIS 864
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMarch 17, 1955
Docket35325
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 87 S.E.2d 322 (Irwin v. Young) 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
Irwin v. Young, 87 S.E.2d 322, 91 Ga. App. 773, 1955 Ga. App. LEXIS 864 (Ga. Ct. App. 1955).

Opinions

Quillian, J.

1. The general ground that the verdict was against the superior weight of the evidence is addressed to the discretion of the trial court and is not for review here.

[779]*779The general ground that the verdict was without evidence to support it requires a careful perusal of the evidence at the trial.

There is competent evidence in the record authorizing the jury to find that the parties entered into a contract consisting of the matters referred to in the foregoing statement of facts. By the terms of this contract, the plaintiffs were employed by the defendants to obtain a reduction in the amount of income taxes exacted of them by the Government over two named periods of time, the years 1915 to 1938 and 1939 to 1945 inclusive.

In consideration of the plaintiffs’ services, the defendants agreed to pay them a certain amount of per diem and an “amount equal to seven and one-half percent of any reduction in the proposed taxes and penalty as disclosed” by the report of the Internal Revenue Agency covering the years aforementioned upon the final settlement of the defendants’ tax case. Evidence was submitted that the plaintiffs entered upon the discharge of the duties required of them by the contract, and continued to render services agreeable to its terms until the defendants by certain wrong conduct prevented the future performance of the contract. The evidence referred to was that the defendants withheld certain information concerning transactions engaged in by the defendants in the State of California essential to the proper compilation and computation of the defendants’ income over a period of years covered by the contract; that, without the information referred to, the plaintiffs could not make up a statement showing that the defendants were entitled to a reduction in their income taxes for the years referred to in the contract. The evidence introduced showed that, thereafter and before the filing of the present suit, the defendants did settle 'their tax case with the Government for a named amount, resulting in a reduction of the taxes and penalties for the years named in the contract.

The evidence was in sharp conflict on each of the material issues of the case, and while it was not at all conclusive nor was the verdict rendered demanded, we are constrained to hold that the verdict returned by the jury was not without evidence to support it.

The defendants insist that the evidence did not show that the settlement between the defendants and the Government, resulting in a reduction of amount of the Government’s claim of [780]*780income tax due by the defendants, was accomplished by efforts of the plaintiffs, and that for this reason they are not entitled to recover; that the contract did not provide-that the plaintiffs were to be paid for the work on the basis of the amount by which they succeeded in reducing the Government’s claim against the defendants, but provided that their compensation was to be computed upon the amount by which the claim was ultimately reduced. The defendants’ position is not well taken. For supporting authority see Candler v. Bryan, 189 Ga. 851 (8 S. E. 2d 81).

The defendants insist that, though the plaintiffs proved that the defendants wrongfully prevented them from carrying out the contract of employment, they would not be entitled to recover for a breach of the contract, but that their only remedy would be a suit in quantum meruit for the value of the services actually rendered by them. The position is not well taken. Uniformly the courts of this State have held that an employee who is circumvented from performing his contract by the wrongful act of the employer may sue for a breach of the contract, and that the measure of his damages is the value of the contract to him. City of Royston v. Littrell Engineering Co., 87 Ga. App. 903 (75 S. E. 2d 678); Candler v. Bryan, 189 Ga. 851, supra.

We have carefully examined authorities cited by counsel for the defendants (plaintiffs in error here), among which are several Georgia cases. None of them is authority for any different view from that expressed by this opinion.

2. Grounds 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 of the motion for new trial each recites that certain evidence was admitted over stated objections of counsel for the movant. However, none of these grounds asserts that the admission of the evidence was erroneous. Under authority of numerous holdings of our appellate courts, the grounds cannot be considered. Binion v. Georgia Southern &c. Ry. Co., 118 Ga. 282 (1) (45 S. E. 276); Kelley v. Kelley, 142 Ga. 861 (1) (83 S. E. 856); Henley v. Brockman, 124 Ga. 1059 (4) (53 S. E. 672); Sims v. Quillian, 147 Ga. 200 (93 S. E. 200); Loggins v. Loggins, 191 Ga. 779 (14 S. E. 2d 91).

Moreover, it was not made to appear in any of these grounds that the ruling referred to was prejudicial to the defendants. For this additional reason the grounds cannot be considered. [781]*781Cathey v. State, 28 Ga. App. 666 (3) (112 S. E. 915); Campbell v. Walker, 20 Ga. App. 88 (4) (92 S. E. 545).

The bill of exceptions does assign error on the admission of the evidence referred to in the above-mentioned grounds, but cannot thus supply the deficiency of the motion for new trial. Sims v. Quillian, 147 Ga. 200, supra.

3. Grounds 11 and 15 of the amended motion for new trial relate that a motion for mistrial was made by the movant, repeat colloquies between the court and counsel, also specifically detail the grounds upon which the motions were predicated, and state that the motion was overruled, but contain no complaint that the court’s ruling was error. Nothing was presented by these grounds for the consideration of the trial court or for review here.

4. Grounds 23 and 24 complain of rulings upon pleadings that could be made only by bill of exceptions and not by motion for new trial. Henley v. Brockman, 124 Ga. 1059, supra.

5. The charge complained of in special ground 25 was a mere recital by the court of what was alleged in the plaintiffs’ petition. The criticism of the charge is that the paragraph referred to by the court had been stricken by demurrer, and the issue raised by it had been previously eliminated by a statement in judicio. The paragraph contained the same substance as a contract or exhibit attached to the petition, which was not stricken on demurrer or otherwise deleted from the petition.

The plaintiffs’ counsel did state that no recovery was asked for services rendered under the terms of the contract referred to in the charge. An amendment to the petition also contained an express averment to the same effect. The amendment was read by the trial judge to the jury in charging them as to the issues presented by the pleadings.

The contract referred to was shown by the petition to have been merged with another contract, so that each became an integral part of the other. The suit was brought for the breach of the latter contract. The rules of good pleading required of the plaintiffs that they set out in the petition the entire contract sued upon, though all damages claimed by them arose from the breach of a particular part of the contract.

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Albright v. Benefield
213 S.E.2d 45 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1975)
Andrews v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad
406 U.S. 320 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Irwin v. Young
90 S.E.2d 22 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1955)
Irwin v. Young
87 S.E.2d 322 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1955)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
87 S.E.2d 322, 91 Ga. App. 773, 1955 Ga. App. LEXIS 864, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/irwin-v-young-gactapp-1955.