Sutton v. Griner

95 S.E. 1004, 22 Ga. App. 307, 1918 Ga. App. LEXIS 320
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMay 15, 1918
Docket9220
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 95 S.E. 1004 (Sutton v. Griner) 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
Sutton v. Griner, 95 S.E. 1004, 22 Ga. App. 307, 1918 Ga. App. LEXIS 320 (Ga. Ct. App. 1918).

Opinion

Wade, C. J.

1. While, in this suit on the bond of a deputy sheriff for failure to execute final process, the presumption was that the plaintiffs were damaged, and the burden was upon the defendants to mitigate the damages or show that the plaintiffs were not injured by the breach of official duty, the burden might be shifted and the presumption be rebutted “by proof of facts mitigating the plaintiff’s damages, or by showing that,the money could not have been collected on the fi.. fa. by the exercise- of reasonable diligence.” Beck & Gregg Co. v. Knight, 121 Ga. 287, 290 (48 S. E. 930, 3 L. R. A. (N. S.) 420, 2 Ann. Cas. 9), and cases there cited.

2. In a rule against a sheriff for failure to levy executions on property • shown to have been in the possession of the defendant, and so likewise in a suit against him and his bondsmen for a like dereliction of duty, it may be shown by way of defense, as rebutting the presumption of injury sustained by the plaintiff, “that the property in the possession of the defendant .belonged to some one else.” Cowart, v. Dunbar, 56 Ga. 418. It is likewise “competent for a sheriff, in defense to a rule brought against Mm for neglect, to show that the property levied [308]*308upon was not subject to the execution.” Brannon v. Barnes, 111 Ga. 850 (2) (36 S. E. 689). See also Wilkin v. American Freehold &c. Co., 106 Ga. 182 (32 S. E. 135); Smith v. West, 134 Ga. 11, 13 (67 S. E. 405).

Decided May 15, 1918. Action upon bond; from Berrien superior court—Judge Thomas. September 10, 1917. Hendricks, Mills & Hendricks, for plaintiffs. W. D. Buie, J.,0. Smith, G. A. Christian, for defendants.

4. In the light/of the entire record, there- is not such merit in any of the special assignments of error as to require a reversal; and the trial judge did not err in overruling the motion for a new trial. ’

Judgment affirmed.

Jenkins and Luke, JJ., concur.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Eslinger v. Land
163 S.E. 522 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1932)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
95 S.E. 1004, 22 Ga. App. 307, 1918 Ga. App. LEXIS 320, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sutton-v-griner-gactapp-1918.