Williamson v. Harry L. Winter Inc.

120 S.E. 602, 156 Ga. 779, 1923 Ga. LEXIS 331
Supreme Court of Georgia·Decided November 17, 1923·No. No. 3746·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinions

Hill, J.

The Sessions Loan & Trust Company made a loan of $3,000 to Norman M. Williamson on December 27, 1915, and took as security therefor a note and deed to secure the debt, conveying 280 acres of land, the same being in one tract. The note and deed were transferred to Harry L. Winter Inc., the defendant in error. When the indebtedness became due the defendant in error brought suit against Norman M. Williamson, and obtained a special lien on the 280 acres of land. The defendant in error executed a quitclaim deed to the land to Norman M. Williamson, had it recorded, and the land was then levied on, when the plaintiff in error filed a claim to' fifty acres of the land. Hpon the trial of the issue thus raised the claimant offered an amendment to the claim affidavit; and the court, upon motion of the plaintiff in fi. fa., struck paragraph two of the amendment and allowed paragraph one. To this ruling the plaintiff in error excepted pendente lite. Hpon the trial of the case the jury returned a verdict finding the land subject. The claimant filed a motion for new trial, upon the usual general grounds, and an amendment to the motion.

1. Exception is taken to the disallowance of the second paragraph of the amendment to the claim affidavit, wb ich is as follows: “ That the land levied upon, not claimed and owned by him, will [780] at public sale bring a sum sufficient to pay plaintiffs judgment, principal, interest, attorney’s fees, and all costs. Therefore claimant prays that if as a matter of law, under the aforementioned facts, he is estopped to claim the land to which he has filed his claim, that then and in that event the land levied upon in which he claims no interest be sold first to pay plaintiffs said debt, and if the jury should find as a matter of fact that the land claimed by him is subject to plaintiff’s judgment and fi. fa., they would so mould their verdict as to provide that the land levied upon not owned and claimed by him be first sold, and in the event it failed to bring a sum sufficient to pay plaintiff’s judgment, including principal, interest, attorney’s fees, and all costs, then the land owned and claimed by him be sold to satisfy and pay the remainder due the plaintiff, and that the court enter a decree carrying into force and effect the verdict of the jury so rendered.” We are of the opinion that the court did not err in disallowing the above amendment. In this State a judgment binds all of the property of the defendant therein from its date,, and equity will not compel the plaintiff in fi. fa. to levy on only a portion of the property of the defendant subject to the execution. See Barden v. Grady, 37 Ga. 660; Fleishel v. House, 52 Ga. 60.

Error is assigned because the court excluded certain evidence of the claimant in answer to a question as to what “this tract of land is worth if the fifty acres you claim is not included,”, and the expected answer that “ if this land at public sale — that land other than the fifty acres which he claims and owned by him would bring a sum sufficient at public sale to discharge this debt, principal, interest, and attorney’s fees, and all costs.” The rejection of this evidence was not error. Nor was it error for the court to charge the jury: “ The sole question and the only question to be passed on by the jury in this case is, as I conceive the law, under the law and evidence, is this property subject? Whether or not this 230 acres remaining after carving out the fifty acres is sufficient to pay this debt or not, is not a matter to be considered by the jury, or to influence you in arriving at a verdict in this case.” We think that the trial judge correctly instructed the jury that the sole issue to be passed on by the jury was,, as- to whether the property levied on, which includes the fifty acres claimed in this case, was subject to the execution. Bryan v. Simpson, 92 Ga. [781]*781307 (18 S. E. 547); Southern Mining Co. v. Brown, 107 Ga. 264 (3) (33 S. E. 73).

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Williamson v. Harry L. Winter Inc., 120 S.E. 602, 156 Ga. 779, 1923 Ga. LEXIS 331 (Ga. 1923).

120 S.E. 602 (Williamson v. Harry L. Winter Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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