Owensby v. Byrd

44 S.E.2d 452, 75 Ga. App. 729, 1947 Ga. App. LEXIS 627
Court of Appeals of Georgia·Decided September 26, 1947·No. 31723.·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Sutton, C. J.

L. G. Owensby sued Mrs. Leila Byrd in the Superior Court of Chatham County for damages for an alleged breach of contract. The petition alleged in substance that the plaintiff agreed to purchase and the defendant agreed to sell certain real and personal property for a consideration of $4500, under a certain sales contract which provided in part, “Terms: Cash, $1,000.00 at the time of execution of titles; sale made subject to obtaining a sufficient loan to consummate sale;” that under said sales agreement, the defendant bound herself to deliver said property for the sum of $1000 and to obtain a sufficient loan for the plaintiff to consummate the sale; that plaintiff paid $500 as' earnest money and was willing to pay the additional $500 and to execute a deed to secure debt or other papers necessary to consummate the sale but that the defendant had failed and refused to carry out the terms of the contract and had refused to return to the plaintiff the $500 which he had paid as earnest money. Judgment was sought against the defendant for $500.

*730 To this petition the defendant filed general and. special demurrers. The plaintiff amended his petition by setting out in paragraph 1 of the amendment the name of D. M. Mathews as an additional party plaintiff, as called for by the defendant in her special demurrer; and in paragraph % of the amendment, the plaintiff alleged that it was understood between the parties that the loan was to be obtained by the defendant and at her expense for the plaintiffs and that, as an inducement for the execution of the contract, the defendant’s agent assured the plaintiffs that the arrangements for the loan had been made and that the same would be forthcoming before the time fixed for closing the sale; that the plaintiffs had been ready and willing to close the sale but were unable to do so for the reason that the defendant did not obtain the loan for them and had breached her contract in this respect and made it impossible for the transaction to be closed.

The defendant demurred to paragraph 2 of the amendment upon the grounds that it sought to vary the terms of a written contract by parol; that it sought to introduce a new and distinct cause of action; and that it sought to change the cause of action from one based on a .written contract to one resting in parol. The defendant renewed her general demurrers to the petition as amended.

The trial judge sustained the demurrers to paragraph 2 of the amendment and sustained the general demurrers to the petition as amended, and the plaintiff excepted, assigning error on said judgments.

The court did not err in sustaining the defendant’s demurrers to the plaintiff’s amendment, which sought to set up a parol agreement between the parties at variance with the plain and clear provisions of the written contract. The contract of sale was in writing and it expressly provided that the sale was made subject to obtaining a loan to consummate the sale. The plain and unambiguous language used admits of no other construction than that the plaintiff was to secure a loan to pay the defendant the balance due as the purchase-price of the property described in the contract. The effect of the amendment was to change the provisions of the contract to provide that it was the duty of the defendant to secure a loan for the plaintiff, and the amendment thus conflicted with the clear and unequivocal language of the written contract. The written contract of sale was complete and unam *731 biguous and explicit as to its terms, and the judge did not err in striking on demurrer, that portion of the amendment which attempted to ingraft upon the express terms of the written contract, by parol, inconsistent terms and conditions. Code, § 38-501; Campbell v. Alkahest Lyceum System, 10 Ga. App. 839 (74 S. E. 443); Dozier v. Davidson, 138 Ga. 190 (2) (74 S. E. 1086); Norton v. Fleming, 145 Ga. 475 (89 S. E. 573).

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Owensby v. Byrd, 44 S.E.2d 452, 75 Ga. App. 729, 1947 Ga. App. LEXIS 627 (Ga. Ct. App. 1947).

44 S.E.2d 452 (Owensby v. Byrd) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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