Western & Atlantic Railroad v. Hughes

66 S.E.2d 382, 84 Ga. App. 511, 1951 Ga. App. LEXIS 716
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJuly 14, 1951
Docket33456
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 66 S.E.2d 382 (Western & Atlantic Railroad v. Hughes) 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
Western & Atlantic Railroad v. Hughes, 66 S.E.2d 382, 84 Ga. App. 511, 1951 Ga. App. LEXIS 716 (Ga. Ct. App. 1951).

Opinions

MacIntyre, P. J.

The exceptions pendente lite to the overruling of the defendant’s special demurrers to the original petition on November 28, 1950, though specified in the final bill of exceptions, are not argued or generally insisted upon in the briefs of counsel for the defendant and are treated as abandoned. Code § 6-1308, and numerous cases cited under catchword, “Abandonment.”

The judgment of the trial court which was entered on November 28, 1950, in which it overruled certain special demurrers, sustained certain special demurrers, and allowed the plaintiff ten days (or until December 9, 1950) within which to amend to meet the criticisms of the demurrers, was a valid judgment; and, had the plaintiff permitted the ten-day period of “indulgence” or “grace” to elapse without filing and having such [519]*519amendments allowed, the petition would have been automatically dismissed. Hayes v. Simpson, 83 Ga. App. 22 (62 S. E. 2d, 441); Gamble v. Gamble, 193 Ga. 591, 595 (19 S. E. 2d, 276); Clark v. Ganson, 144 Ga. 544 (87 S. E. 670); Speer v. Alexander, 149 Ga. 765 (102 S. E. 150); Humphries v. Morris, 179 Ga. 55 (175 S. E. 242); Smith v. Atlanta Gas-Light Co., 181 Ga. 479 (182 S. E. 603); Howell v. Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills, 188 Ga. 488 (4 S. E. 2d, 181). But, be that as it may, in the present case the plaintiff on November 29, 1950, offered two amendments which the court allowed subject to demurrer; and, then, still during the same term and within the ten-day period of grace, before any ruling had been made upon the sufficiency of these two amendments to meet the criticisms of the defendant's demurrers, which had been sustained on November 28, 1950, counsel for the plaintiff/ according to the certificate of the trial court, notified counsel for the defendant on December 6, 1950, that on December 7, 1950, he would reoffer the two amendments which had been offered and allowed subject to demurrer on November 29, 1950, and that he would at that time request orders re-allowing those amendments and overruling the defendant's demurrers. On that date, December 7, 1950, according to the certificate of the trial court, the two amendments were reoffered and reallowed subject to demurrer, and the defendant’s demurrers, which had been sustained on November 28, 1950, were overruled, all done “in open court . . at the same term, but no jury being present,” according to the certificate of the trial court.

The effect of the rulings on December 7, 1950, was this: The reallowance of the amendments subject to demurrer, as was true of their first allowance subject to demurrer, ipso facto opened the question of whether such amendments met the criticisms of the defendant’s special demurrers, which had been sustained on November 28, 1950. See Trust Company of Georgia v. Mobley, 40 Ga. App. 468, 473 (150 S. E. 169); and citations. The subsequent order on that date, December 7, 1950, overruling the defendant’s demurrers, superseded the earlier order of November 28, 1950, and this later order adjudicated that the amendments met the criticisms of the demurrers which had been sustained on November 28, 1950. The defendant did not demur [520]*520to the amendments when offered or reoffered or at the time of the hearing on their sufficiency, and the court’s order overruling the demurrers necessarily meant that the court was overruling the demurrers which he had previously sustained. In other words, the later order was, under the circumstances, a revocation of the earlier order, which was, during the same term, within the court’s power; see McCandless v. Conley, 115 Ga. 48, 50 (41 S. E. 256), where it is said, “ 'The authorities all hold that a court has plenary control of its judgments, orders, and decrees during the term at which they are rendered, and may amend, correct, modify, or supplement them for cause appearing, or may, to promote justice, revise, supersede, revoke, or vacate them, as may in its discretion seem necessary.’ 1 Black, Judg., § 153.” And, under the circumstances, counsel for the defendants having had notice of the proposed proceedings, an express order of revocation of the earlier order was unnecessary and would have been superfluous.

The defendant did not preserve any exceptions, either by exceptions pendente lite or in the bill of exceptions, to the court’s ruling that the amendments had met the criticisms of the demurrers which had been sustained previously; and right or wrong, that ruling, on December 7, 1950, established as the law of the case that the amendments were sufficient.

The defendant’s motion to set aside the judgment of December 7, 1950, overruling the defendant’s demurrers, which has been dealt with above, and to strike the case from the docket, on the ground that the amendments did not meet the criticisms of the demurrers was not meritorious, and the trial court did not err in overruling it. “When a judgment has been rendered, either party may move in arrest thereof, or to set it aside for any .defect not amendable which appears on the face of the record or pleadings.” Code, § 110-702. No such defect appears on the face of the record or pleadings with reference to the court’s ruling of December 7, 1950, upon the sufficiency of the amendments to meet the demurrers. As has been shown above, the defendant’s counsel had notice of the proposed proceedings of December 7, 1950, the court was empowered to proceed as it did, and having established as the law of the case that the amendments met the demurrers, to which no exception [521]*521was taken, the order of December 7, 1950, was entirely regular. See, in this connection, Mell v. McNulty, 185 Ga. 343 (195 S. E. 181).

Assuming for the sake of argument that after the hearing on demurrers on December 7, 1950, of which the defendant had notice, that the special demurrers filed on December 12, 13, and 18, 1950, were within time (see Code, Ann. Supp., §§ 81-301, 81-1001, 81-1002; Southern Cotton Oil Co. v. Raines, 171 Ga. 154, 156, 155 S. E. 484, and citations), and we do not here express an opinion on that point, it is a well-established rule that, while an amendment may open the pleadings to demurrer anew, it does not open them to new rulings upon the identical questions previously adjudicated. General Tire & Rubber Co. v. Brown Tire Co., 46 Ga. App. 548 (168 S. E. 75), and citations. The special demurrers filed on December 12, 13, and 18, were essentially upon the same grounds as those of the special demurrers filed on November 27, and overruled by the court on November 28, and December 7.

Coming now to the general demurrers to counts 1 and 2 of the petition, it is, of course, so well known that none will gainsay it, that a general demurrer, going to the whole pleading to which it is addressed, should be overruled if any part thereof is good in substance. Greene v. Kelly, 193 Ga. 675 (19 S. E. 2d, 718); Pardue Medicine Co. v. Pardue, 194 Ga. 516 (22 S. E. 2d, 143); Napier v. Union Cotton Mills, 93 Ga. 587 (20 S. E. 80); May v. Jones, 88 Ga. 308 (14 S. E. 552).

After a rather sedulous consideration of the allegations of both counts 1 and 2, we are of the opinion that each sets forth a cause of action.

In Shaw v. Georgia Railroad Co., 127 Ga.

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Western & Atlantic Railroad v. Hughes
66 S.E.2d 382 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1951)

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Bluebook (online)
66 S.E.2d 382, 84 Ga. App. 511, 1951 Ga. App. LEXIS 716, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/western-atlantic-railroad-v-hughes-gactapp-1951.