Mobley v. General Motors Acceptance Corp.

119 S.E.2d 804, 103 Ga. App. 584, 1961 Ga. App. LEXIS 1007
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedApril 13, 1961
Docket38692
StatusPublished

This text of 119 S.E.2d 804 (Mobley v. General Motors Acceptance Corp.) 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
Mobley v. General Motors Acceptance Corp., 119 S.E.2d 804, 103 Ga. App. 584, 1961 Ga. App. LEXIS 1007 (Ga. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

Bell, Judge.

The first exception of the defendant to be considered is to the order of the trial court of February 4, 1960, which stated that the defendant’s grounds of demurrer filed February 27, 1959, were each and all overruled because the plaintiff, by amendment to the petition, had met the criticism of these grounds. With the overruling of these demurrers we agree. The amendment to' the petition setting forth the conditional-sale contract sued upon met some of them, and the others were without merit.1 Furthermore, the plaintiff’s argument upon appeal does not consider these grounds of demurrer, so they are regarded, under numerous rulings of this court, as abandoned.

One of the contentions of the defendant is that the conditional-sale contract sued upon was not transferable because it did not contain words of negotiability. However, choses in action arising upon a contract may be assigned so as to' vest the title in the assignee. Code § 85-1803. Furthermore, the contract form of the conditional-sale contract utilized expressly contains provisions for assignments. The contentions of the defendant that it was not transferable, and that it was not properly transferred, are without merit.

The next ground of exception is to' the trial court’s ruling on the defendant’s motion to strike the plaintiff’s amendment of September 28; 1959. These objections to the allowance of the plaintiff’s amendment were, in essence, that the copy of the contract attached to the petition as Exhibit “A” was not “the same as attached to the original copy of the suit.”

A comparison of the final exhibit attached to the petition to which the defendant objected with the original and the first substituted exhibits reveals that it is the same contract as attached to the original petition. The plaintiff is permitted to amend his petition whenever there is enough to amend by. Code § 81-1302, defining what constitutes enough to amend by, provides, “A petition showing a plaintiff and a defendant, and setting out sufficient to indicate and specify some particular fact or transaction as a cause of action, shall be enough to amend by . . . [587]*587If the declaration shall omit to allege facts essential to raise the duty or obligation involved in the cause of action which was evidently originally intended to be declared upon, the omitted fact may be supplied by amendment)” We agree with the trial court in its ruling that the plaintiff’s petition under this statute set forth enough to amend by. Here, under the evidence, the final amendment to the plaintiff’s petition was made so as to conform the copy of the conditional-sale contract sued on to the original. This is permissible. Chapman v. Skellie, 65 Ga. 124 (1); and Rollins v. General Acceptance Corp., 92 Ga. App. 394 (88 S. E. 2d 520). The trial court properly denied the defendant’s motion to strike the amendment.

The next exception of the defendant is to the order of the trial court of April 6, 1960, which provided, “It appearing from the record that the defendant has failed to plead his cross-action in consecutively numbered paragraphs as required by an order entered November 23rd, 1959, it is now considered, ordered and adjudged that said cross-action be dismissed and stricken.” Code Ann. § 81-103 provides that all petitions in the superior court for either legal or equitable relief or both shall set forth the cause of action in orderly and distinct paragraphs, numbered consecutively. In McConnell v. Smith, 18 Ga. App. 618 (90 S. E. 88), this court held, “A petition not subdivided into paragraphs at all would evidence such a disregard of the requirements of the law that the same should be dismissed on motion . . . ” It is difficult to define what would be an orderly paragraph, and this determination must be left largely to the discretion of the trial judge. We think that a cross-action in the nature of a petition brought by the defendant against the plaintiff falls within the provisions of the above statute, and the trial judge may properly require that the cross-action be subdivided into paragraphs. Here the record reveals that the portion of the defendant’s pleading which set forth the cross-action comprised ten unnumbered paragraphs extending over three pages, and contained long recitations of alleged facts. Under these circumstances the trial court did not abuse its discretion in striking the defendant’s cross-action.

The defendant’s next exception is to the trial judge’s di[588]*588renting the jury to render a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for the unpaid balance sued upon under the conditional-sale contract, the defendant’s contention being that there were present facts and issues which the court should have submitted t.o the jury. In urging this exception, the defendant set forth as issues which should have gone to the jury: that the defendant did not purchase an Oldsmobile “98” as shown on the contract, but bought an Oldsmobile “88”; that the defendant understood the contract was at an end when he returned the car; that the jury should have been allowed to pass upon his plea of non est factum; and, in essence, that there was at least a partial failure of consideration. A review of the evidence clearly reveals that, while the defendant filed his sworn plea of non est factum, he admitted the validity of his signature on the contract sued upon. He further admitted in his testimony that he looked at only one automobile — -the one which he received under the contract, accepted, and drove for two months, and then returned to the plaintiff. He further admitted that the amounts to be paid and the duration of the payments which he agreed to were as set out in the contract. His testimony on the return of the car is not in any way sufficient to show any accord and satisfaction or rescission of the contract. Thus, “Q. What was your agreement? What was said? What did you take it back now? A. Well, I was the one actually wanted to turn it back in, because I didn’t want the car. Q. Why didn’t you want it? A. It wasn’t in the shape I thought it was in when I bought the car. Q. Was that car, in your opinion, worth $1,794? A. In my opinion, the car wasn’t worth $500'. Q. What would you say the car was worth? A. At the time I bought it? Q. Yes. A. About $995, $1,095 — ■ that would have been a good price at that time.” The mere fact that the defendant returned the car because he wanted to turn it back; that he didn’t want the car; and that it was not in the shape he thought it was when he bought it does not show any mutual rescission of the contract nor any failure of consideration. The defendant’s testimony as a whole contains many contradictions. Construing his testimony most strongly against him, the trial court properly directed a verdict for the plaintiff for the unpaid balance due on the contract, There was here no sub[589]*589stantial conflict in the evidence, and that introduced with all reasonable deductions demanded the verdict. The defendant admitted a prima facie case for the plaintiff when he acknowledged: execution of the contract; that the payments were accurately set forth; that he received the car sold under the contract; and admitted his signature on the particular contract. The plaintiff’s evidence proved sufficient facts to authorize the recovery of a deficiency judgment under the rales laid down in Newkirk v. Universal C. I. T. Credit Corp., 93 Ga. App. 1 (3), 5 (90 S. E. 2d 618).

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Related

Pethel v. General Finance & Thrift Corp.
63 S.E.2d 907 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1951)
Newkirk v. Universal C. I. T. Credit Corp.
90 S.E.2d 618 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1955)
Barrett v. Distributors Group Inc.
69 S.E.2d 810 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1952)
Chapman v. Skellie
65 Ga. 124 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1880)
Hardin v. Manry
82 S.E.2d 845 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1954)
McConnell v. Smith
90 S.E. 88 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1916)
Rollins v. General Acceptance Corp.
88 S.E.2d 520 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1955)
Flury v. State
116 S.E.2d 346 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1960)

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Bluebook (online)
119 S.E.2d 804, 103 Ga. App. 584, 1961 Ga. App. LEXIS 1007, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mobley-v-general-motors-acceptance-corp-gactapp-1961.