Jordan v. Harber

157 S.E. 652, 172 Ga. 139, 1931 Ga. LEXIS 39
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 11, 1931
DocketNo. 7928
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 157 S.E. 652 (Jordan v. Harber) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jordan v. Harber, 157 S.E. 652, 172 Ga. 139, 1931 Ga. LEXIS 39 (Ga. 1931).

Opinion

Russell, C. J.

(After stating the foregoing facts.) The defendant filed a motion to dismiss the writ of error, upon the grounds: (1) That no person is named as plaintiff in error, and movant has not by his counsel or himself acknowledged or waived service. (2) (a) He has been handed only one copy of what purports to be a bill of exceptions, without any notice whether he was being served individually, or as coguardian of Mary Dillard Harber Jordan, or coguardian and cotrustee of Henry Harber, and without any effort upon the part of the person delivering him the copy to designate to him in what capacity it was being delivered, (b) The bill of exceptions does not name him as a defendant in error in any of the capacities referred to in sub-paragraph (a). (3) There is no evidence upon the face of the record showing legal service upon Mrs. Marie Gould Mauldin, (a) It does not appear from the bill of exceptions that she [152]*152was a non-resident of the State of Georgia, (b) The purported certificate of the clerk, “This is to certify that I have this day mailed to Mrs. Marie Gould Mauldin, at 98 West Edgewood Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona, who is a non-resident defendant in error in the case of Mary Dillard Harber Jordan v. W. Y. Harber et al., said case being No. 84332, in Fulton Superior Court, a letter containing a statement of the case, that she is a defendant in error therein, that the bill of exceptions has been filed, that it will be ■forwarded to the Supreme Court and will be heard in that court at the present term thereof,” is not authorized by law or by the provisions of Code section 6161, because it does not appear from the bill of exceptions that Mrs. Marie Gould Mauldin is a nonresident of the State, and the certificate is a conclusion of the clerk as to what he did; whereas in law the clerk is required to certify a copy of the letter addressed to the supposed defendant in error, showing that it did contain a statement of the case, that the defendant in error was in fact a defendant in error in the bill of exceptions, and the contents of the notice so mailed should be certified by the clerk in the form of a certified copy instead of a certificate as to the fact.

While it is good practice to designate by name plaintiffs in error and defendants in error, so as to identify the capacity in which each party appears, this is not indispensable. The allegations in the pleadings may illustrate and identify the position of every párty. Upon review of a bill of exceptions, the Code, § 6176, provides: “When the record shows clearly who were the parties to the litigation in the court below, and the bill of exceptions shows that all who were interested in sustaining the judgment of the court below have been served, the writ of error shall not be dismissed because the bill of exceptions sets forth the parties differently from the record, or discloses that some party not interested in sustaining the judgment of the court below has not been served. No party shall be considered as interested in the litigation in' the Supreme Court who will not be affected by the judgment to bo .rendered in that particular case, such as sheriffs upon a money rule when the contest is between various claimants of the fund and not between the sheriff and any one of them, or a receiver occupying a similar relation, or a complainant in a bill of interpleader, and other parties occupying similar positions. This recital of instances [153]*153shall not be construed to exclude eases coining under the intention of this section but not mentioned therein.” In order words,.all the necessary parties must be brought before the court, but a defendant in the lower court who does not wish' to go any further is not a necessary party.

When the movant was handed one copy of the bill of exceptions, this was notice to him and service of him in each and all of the capacities in which he was named. We know of no rule of law which requires that the same individual who appears in different capacities, which are fully set forth in the proceeding, must be served with more than one copy. Four copies would not give the movant any information he could not receive from the one copy, and it was not necessary for the person delivering him the copy to designate to him in what capacity it was being delivered.

The certificate of the clerk, which we have quoted, complies with every requirement of the Code, § 6161. It is true, where service of a non-resident is made by publication, that the clerk is required to send a letter as prescribed in section 5557; but section 6161 was designed to be used under conditions different from those provided for the service of a non-resident by publication. It contemplates a case in which the plaintiff in error names as a party defendant one whom the plaintiff in error believes to be a resident of this State at the time the bill of exceptions is presented to the trial judge, but later, after the judge has certified the bill of exceptions, discovers that this party is no longer domiciled in Georgia but has become a non-resident, and has moved to an address where he may be found and served by mail. Section 6161 provides: <eWhenever a bill of exceptions is sued out in the trial court, and is certified and filed in said court, and it appears that a defendant in error is a non-resident of this State, and is not represented by counsel so that he ma}’- be served with a copy of said bill of exceptions, the clerk, upon the request of the counsel suing out said bill of exceptions, shall give notice to the non-resident defendant by mailing a letter addressed to him at his post-office; the notice to contain a statement of the case, that he is a defendant in error therein, that the bill of exceptions has been filed, that it will be forwarded to the Supreme Court, and will be heard in that court at the-term thereof. This notice shall be sufficient to authorize the Supreme Court to hear and determine said case, and [154]*154the judgment made therein shall bind the defendant so far as his assets in this State are concerned.” This direction of the statute has been specifically and exactly complied with by the clerk in the present instance. The motion to dismiss can not be sustained, and the case must be considered upon its merits.

The first question which arises in this case is as to the jurisdiction. It appears that W. Y. Harber is a citizen of Commerce in Jackson County, Georgia, and John J. Iiarber is a citizen of Fulton County. Hall County is the situs of the administration of the estate of G. W. D. Harber, for he resided in that county at the time of his death, and died there. The action is by equitable petition of a ward against two guardians, for an accounting; and incidentally the petition seeks to set aside a decree of another court affecting her, on the ground that the decree was obtained by fraud. The suit was brought in Fulton County against W. Y. and John J. Harber, not only as executors of the will of G. W. D. Harber, but as guardians for petitioner both before and after she reached her majority, and also as trustees for certain estates created by her father’s will, in which she is interested. The Civil Code, § 5527, declares: “All petitions for equitable relief shall be filed in the comity of the residence of one of the defendants against whom a substantial relief is prayed.” Construing this section, it was held in Shropshire v. Rainey, 150 Ga. 566 (104 S. E. 414), that where two executors resided in different counties, the superior court of either county has jurisdiction of an equitable case praying substantial relief against both. So this suit was not demurrable for want of jurisdiction. It was held, in Brown v.

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Bluebook (online)
157 S.E. 652, 172 Ga. 139, 1931 Ga. LEXIS 39, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jordan-v-harber-ga-1931.