Reilly v. Mosley

301 S.E.2d 649, 165 Ga. App. 479, 1983 Ga. App. LEXIS 1917
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 2, 1983
Docket64983
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 301 S.E.2d 649 (Reilly v. Mosley) 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
Reilly v. Mosley, 301 S.E.2d 649, 165 Ga. App. 479, 1983 Ga. App. LEXIS 1917 (Ga. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

Carley, Judge.

Appellant-plaintiff responded to appellee-defendant’s newspaper advertisement offering a 1977 vehicle for sale. Appellant inspected the car, signed an agreement to purchase it “as is,” and paid $200 of the agreed purchase price, the balance thereof to be paid at delivery of the vehicle. On the following day, appellant paid the balance of the purchase price, accepted delivery of the automobile, and received a bill of sale noting that it was being sold “as is.” Several days later, appellant attempted to rescind the contract and recover the purchase price based upon appellee’s alleged misrepresentations concerning the accuracy of the vehicle’s odometer reading and its prior ownership. Appellee refused to accept redelivery of the car or return the purchase price to appellant.

Appellant then filed a multi-count complaint against appellee. Count I was a tort claim premised upon fraud and deceit and sought return of the purchase price. Count II alleged a violation of the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act, Ga. Code Ann. § 106-1201 et seq. Count III sounded in contract and was ostensibly a claim for breach of warranty. After discovery, appellee moved for summary judgment as to all counts of appellant’s complaint. The trial court granted appellee’s motion, and it is from that order that appellant brings the instant appeal.

1. We turn to the issue of the grant of summary judgment on appellant’s tort claim.

The essential elements of a claim for the tort of deceit are: “ ‘(1) That the defendant made the representations; (2) that at the time he knew they were false (or what the law regards as the equivalent of knowledge); (3) that he made them with the intention and purpose of deceiving the plaintiff; (4) that the plaintiff relied on such representations; (5) that the plaintiff sustained the alleged loss and damage as the proximate result of their having been made.’ [Cit.]” Eastern Motor Co. v. Lavender, 69 Ga. App. 48, 51-52 (24 SE2d 840) (1943). While, at trial, the burden of proof as to each of these elements would be upon appellant as plaintiff, on summary judgment the burden was upon appellee as movant to negate at least one of them. See generally First of Ga. Ins. Co. v. Josey, 129 Ga. App. 14 (198 SE2d *480 381) (1973).

With regard to the first element of appellant’s claim, whether false representations were made by appellee, there is a factual dispute. Appellee denies making any such representations. However, construing the evidence most strongly for appellant, appellee did make certain representations concerning the accuracy of the vehicle’s odometer reading and its prior ownership which were subsequently determined to be untrue. Accordingly, a genuine issue remains concerning whether appellee in fact made false representations to appellant concerning the automobile.

With regard to the elements of scienter and intention to deceive, appellee’s evidence demonstrates that, at the time he purchased the car, an odometer statement was given to him by his vendor which corresponded with the mileage shown at that time on the odometer in the vehicle. Appellee asserts that he would be entitled to rely upon the ostensibly accurate odometer certificate which was given to him in making any representations to appellant concerning the actual mileage on the vehicle at the time he offered it for sale to her.

Scienter and intent to deceive are determined on the basis of the vendor’s knowledge of the falsity of his representations at the time he makes them to a prospective purchaser. Accordingly, appellee would not be entitled to rely upon the ostensible accuracy of an odometer certificate previously given to him if, at the time he made representations concerning mileage to appellant, he knew that the certificate itself contained false and inaccurate statements. “ ‘The intention to deceive and the immoral element are supplied by knowledge of the falsity of the representations when they were made.’ [Cit.]” (Emphasis supplied.) Bill Spreen Toyota v. Jenquin, 163 Ga. App. 855, 859 (294 SE2d 533) (1982). All the evidence in the instant case shows is that appellee received an ostensibly accurate odometer certificate from his vendor which subsequently proved to be false. There is no evidence conclusively demonstrating that appellee did not know of the falsity of the certificate at the time he made representations based thereon to appellant. If at the time he made his representations to appellant, appellee relied in so doing solely upon the odometer certificate previously given to him and he did so innocently without knowledge of its falsity, appellee’s representations to appellant, while false, would not have been made with the requisite knowledge and intent to defraud appellant. However, on the record before us, appellee’s lack of knowledge of the falsity of the odometer reading, and his lack of intent to deceive appellant in that regard at the time the representations were made are not sufficiently established to authorize the grant of summary *481 judgment. See Preiser v. Jim Letts Oldsmobile, 160 Ga. App. 658, 664 (5) (288 SE2d 219) (1981).

Appellee strongly asserts that the essential element of appellant’s claim most lacking in the case is reliance by appellant upon the representations. In this regard appellee first argues that the “as is” language appearing in the documents evidencing the sale is fatal to an assertion of justifiable reliance because such contractual language demonstrates that appellant was “on notice that if [she] had questions about the car [she] would be required to make inquiry.” Randall v. Smith, 136 Ga. App. 823, 826 (222 SE2d 664) (1975). The above quoted language from Randall has no application in the instant case. The cited quote from Randall has reference to the assertions in that case that the plaintiff was defrauded by the defendant’s failure to disclose certain deficiencies in the automobile offered for sale. In the instant case however, construing the evidence most strongly for appellant, she did in fact ask appellee questions or at least received unsolicited representations from him concerning the vehicle, thereby receiving actual oral misrepresentations upon which her tort claim is based. Under these circumstances, the issue of appellant’s diligence and justifiable reliance is resolved, not on the basis of whether appellant should have made further inquiry concerning the underlying condition of the automobile but, rather, on the basis of whether appellant, in the exercise of common prudence and diligence, was justified in relying on appellee’s actual oral misrepresentations. See generally Wilkinson v. Walker, 143 Ga. App. 838 (240 SE2d 210) (1977).

“The question of whether the plaintiff could have protected himself by the exercise of ordinary diligence is usually left to the jury. [Cits.]” Lariscy v. Hill, 117 Ga. App. 152, 153 (159 SE2d 443) (1968). We find nothing in the record before us which would take the instant case outside this general rule.

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Bluebook (online)
301 S.E.2d 649, 165 Ga. App. 479, 1983 Ga. App. LEXIS 1917, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reilly-v-mosley-gactapp-1983.