Ulmer v. Ulmer

71 S.E.2d 558, 86 Ga. App. 319, 1952 Ga. App. LEXIS 946
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJune 20, 1952
Docket33968
StatusPublished

This text of 71 S.E.2d 558 (Ulmer v. Ulmer) 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
Ulmer v. Ulmer, 71 S.E.2d 558, 86 Ga. App. 319, 1952 Ga. App. LEXIS 946 (Ga. Ct. App. 1952).

Opinion

Worrill, J.

1. In a dispossessory-warrant, proceeding, filed March 7, 1951, the plaintiff sought to recover double rent of $1400 on a certain house for the entire year of 1950 and the months of January and February, 1951, under a written contract which was attached to the pleadings as amended and which, among other agreements, embodied a rental cisntract. It was alleged that the defendant breached the tenancy on January 31, 1950, in failing to pay the rent due for the month of January, 1950, that notice of the termination of the tenancy was given and possession demanded by the plaintiff, and that such demand was not complied with. The defendant filed a counter-affidavit, which as amended alleged that she was not holding over, and she sought to recoup alleged damage sustained by her as a tenant because of the failure of the plaintiff to make necessary repairs to the premises, in consequence of which she was forced to expend a total of $2289.22 for repairs, $2237.97 being for repairs from June, 1941, through November 1, 1946, and $15.25 on April 5, 1950, and $50 in' November, 1950, as shown by an exhibit attached to the counter-affidavit as amended. She admitted in such counter-affidavit as amended that as alleged by fhe plaintiff she entered into the rental and separation agreement on July 14, 1949, which provided that, in consideration of the payment by him of $1000 to her and other performances by him, all claims against him were canceled, and she was to occupy rent-free the premises until October 1, 1949, from which time she was to pay a monthly rental of S50, payable monthly, on a 60-day rental basis; but alleged that such agreement was invalid because obtained from her by threats and coercion on the part of the plaintiff’s attorney. The plaintiff demurred on the grounds that the allegations as to repairs, except as to the amounts of $15.25 and $50, set forth no defense, and that they show on their face that the expense, except as to such items, was incurred prior to the relationship of landlord and tenant between the parties. Held:

1. In order to rescind and avoid a contract on the ground of fraud, one must restore or offer to restore promptly, upon discovery of the fraud, whatever fruits of the contract he has received, if they be of any [320]*320value. Code, § 20-906; Finch v. Hill, 146 Ga. 687 (2) (92 S. E. 63); Roberts v. Southern Ry. Co., 73 Ga. App. 759, 762 (38 S. E. 2d, 48). No offer to restore having been made by the defendant, the contract must stand and be enforced as written, and under such contract the defendant is foreclosed from asserting the demand for expense of repairs, except as to the items of $15.25 and $50, which accrued prior to the execution of the contract on July 14, 1949, and for the further reason that the relationship of landlord and tenant did not arise until that time. Accordingly, the court did not err in sustaining the ground of general demurrer.

(a) The action of the court in sustaining another ground of general demurrer as to the allegations of expense without excluding the items of $15.25 and $50 from such ruling was harmless, inasmuch as the plaintiff subsequently wrote off such amounts from the total rent adjudged to be due him.

(b) The allegations as to the expense of repairs, except as to the above-mentioned two items, were also subject to the ground of general demurrer that they show on their face that the claim was barred by the statute of limitations. Code, § 3-706.

(c) Weaver v. Roberson, 134 Ga. 149 (67 S. E. 662), cited and relied on by the defendant as authority for avoiding the contract and asserting her claim for expense of repairs, has no application here, because in that case reformation of the contract was sought in order to assert a violation by the landlord of his obligations. #

2. The allegations as to damage of $3000 because of the failure of the plaintiff to make repairs, thereby causing the nursing home to incur an unfavorable reputation, were subject to the ground of general demurrer that it was thereby sought to plead an action ex delicto against one ex contractu, neither insolvency nor any other 'equitable ground being set up as an exception to the general rule. Cornett v. Ault, 124 Ga. 944, 947 (53 S. E. 460); Potts-Thompson Liquor Co. v. Capital City Tobacco Co., 137 Ga. 648 (74 S. E. 279).

(a) The allegations were also subject to the ground of general demurrer that the alleged damages were too remote and speculative to authorize recovery, no definite data for their ascertainment having been alleged. Levy, Brother & Co. v. Allen, 53 Ga. App. 246, 247 (185 S. E. 369).

3. The allegations as to damage of $1000 because of certain tortious acts of the plaintiff were subject to the ground of general demurrer that it was thereby sought to plead an action ex delicto against one ex contractu.

4. The allegations of the counter-affidavit as amended as to the plaintiff’s desertion of the defendant, his wife, in October, 1939, his conduct thereafter, buying the property in question and taking title in his own name instead of jointly with the defendant, failure to make repairs, threats and interferences, and that the separation and rental agreement was obtained by threats and coercion and was therefore invalid, were, for reasons hereinabove stated, subject to the ground of general demurrer that they set forth no defense to the plaintiff’s action.

5. Because of the above rulings it is unnecessary to pass upon the special grounds of demurrer.

6. Since by stipulation between the parties the defendant admitted that [321]*321she was holding over, that the contract of July 14, 1949, was incorporated in and made a part of a final judgment and decree of the Superior Court of Chatham County, Georgia, on September 13, 1949, that the plaintiff, before instituting the dispossessory-warrant proceeding on March 2, 1951, made a demand for possession of the premises and she refused to comply therewith, and that the rental of $50 per month had not been paid for the years of 1950 and 1951, the court, on motion of the plaintiff, did not err, after sustaining the demurrers, in entering judgment against the defendant and the surety on her bond for §1088.08, representing the accrued and unpaid rental under the contract of July 14, 1949, from January 1, 1950, to November 20, 1951, inclusive, at $50 per month, after deducting $65.25 for expense of repairs as agreed by the plaintiff, and did not err in ordering that a writ of possession issue in favor of the plaintiff.

Decided June 20, 1952. Grady L. Dickey, Marvin O’Neal, for plaintiff in error. Ernest J. Haar, contra.

Dewey H.

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Related

Roberts v. Southern Railway Company
38 S.E.2d 48 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1946)
Cornett v. Ault
53 S.E. 460 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1906)
Weaver v. Roberson
67 S.E. 662 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1910)
Potts-Thompson Liquor Co. v. Capital City Tobacco Co.
74 S.E. 279 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1912)
Finch v. Hill
92 S.E. 63 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1917)
Levy, Brother & Co. v. Allen
185 S.E. 369 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1936)

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Bluebook (online)
71 S.E.2d 558, 86 Ga. App. 319, 1952 Ga. App. LEXIS 946, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ulmer-v-ulmer-gactapp-1952.