Burch v. Atlantic Life Insurance
Burch v. Atlantic Life Insurance
Opinion of the Court
The Atlantic Life Insurance Company brought suit against J. R. Burch upon certain promissory notes. The defendant filed general'and special demurrers to the petition, which were overruled; to which ruling the defendant filed exceptions pendente lite. The plaintiff amended its petition; the defendant filed written objection, and to the overruling of this objection and the allowance of said amendment the defendant filed exceptions pendente lite. Upon. the trial of the case the plaintiff introduced evidence in support'of its allegations; the defendant introduced no evidence; and the court directed a verdict in favor of'the plaintiff for principal, interest, and attorney’s fees. The defendant filed a motion for a new trial, with amendments thereto, which was overruled, and the case was brought here for review. The bill of exceptions assigns error on the overruling of the demurrers, the allowance of the amendment, the direction of the verdict, and the overruling of the motion for a new trial. The special grounds of the motion for a new trial are upon the direction of the verdict, a refusal to continue the case, and the admission of certain evidence. The petition alleged, in substance, that the • defendant, a resident of said county, was indebted to the plaintiff in a certain sum, besides interest and attorney’s fees; that the indebtedness was evidenced by three promissory notes, copies of which were attached to and made a part of the petition; that the notes had been transferred and assigned to the plaintiff for value and before maturity; that copies of the assignments were attached to and made a part of the petition; that in case of default of any one
The special demurrer “demurs to paragraph 5, in that said paragraph does not allege that the notice specified the holder of said notes, nor does Exhibit E attached to said petition state the name of the holder of the notes.” Paragraph 5 alleged that the petitioner’s attorney gave notice of attorney’s fees, set out in substance the contents thereof, and attached, as an exhibit to and part of said paragraph, a copy of said notice, marked Exhibit E. This notice is addressed to the defendant, and begins: “As attorney at law for the Atlantic Life Insurance Company, of Bichmond, Virginia, I hereby notify you of my intention to file a suit against you for it,” and it is signed by “Geo. H. Harris, as attorney at law for Atlantic Life Insurance Company.” This notice, which was a part of the paragraph, clearly showed that the Atlantic Life Insurance Company, the plaintiff, was the holder of the notes, that the attorney of the company would file the suit “for it” and that he was giving the notice “as attorney at law for the Atlantic Life Insurance Company.” Eurthermore, the notice specifically stated that the notes were “given by you [the defendant] to Old Dominion Trust Company, and by said Old Dominion Trust Company transferred before due for value to said Atlantic Life Insurance Company,” the plaintiff. This left no doubt as to who was the holder of the notes, and the special demurrer was properly overruled. See Aycock v. Tillman, 14 Ga. App. 80 (80 S. E. 301); Phelps v. Belle Isle, 29 Ga. App. 571 (116 S. E. 217). The plaintiff in error cites the eases of Carey v. Wyatt, 17 Ga. App. 517 (87 S. E. 770), and Baskins v. Valdosta Bank, 5 Ga. App. 600 (63 S. E. 648). Neither is applicable. In one of them the notice failed to state the name of the holder of the note; and in the other the notice indicated that the suit would be brought by the original payee, when in fact it was brought by the transferee. The notice in the instant case is not subject to either of these criticisms.
Ground 1 of the amendment to the motion for a new trial complains of the direction of the verdict. The plaintiff in the court 'below introduced in evidence the three notes sued on, the transfer of the three notes to the plaintiff, and a copy of the notice of attorney’s fees. The assignments introduced in' evidence were written on the back of the notes upon which suit was brought,, and were as follows: “For value received we hereby sell, assign and transfer the within note and interest note thereto annexed, together with all our interest in and right under the deed securing the same, without recourse, to Atlantic Life Insurance Company. Old Dominion Trust Co.' H. E. Litchford, V.-Pres. (Corp. Seal.)” The attorney for the plaintiff company swore: “There appears an assignment on the back of the $500 note, and an assignment identical in wording on the back of the said $5000 principal
Special ground 2 of the motion for a new trial complains of the refusal of the court to continue the case. The attorney for the defendant in the court below stated that the defendant, his father, was an old man seventy-six years old; that he was sick in bed; that he could not conduct the case intelligently without him, and that he (the attorney) was unable to get in touch with Dr. J. B. Palmer, who had been attending the defendant. A note of the trial judge attached to this ground is as follows: “This case was brought to the September term, 1924. At the March term, 1925, the case was continued on account of sickness of the defendant. At the June term, 1925, the case was continued on account of illness of James B. Burch, the son of the defendant and the defendant’s attorney. At the time of the continuance at the June term, 1925, the court put the case as to the defendant on terms, and an order was so^ entered upon the minutes, the said order being as follows, to wit: Atlantic Life Ins. Co. v. James E. Burch. No. 5256. Suit on notes. September term, 1924. City court of Thomasville. The above-stated case being called in its order for trial, and plaintiff having announced ready, and counsel for the defendant asking
It appears from this note of the trial judge that this case has been kept from trial for more than two years by some act of the defendant in the court below, and that the plaintiff was ready for trial every time the case was called. It also appears that the defendant knew that the case had been put upon terms 15 months previously, “without the privilege of continuance on the part of the defendant;” and yet, with knowledge of this fact and of the advanced age and feeble condition of his client, the attorney for the defendant preferred to take a chance on getting the case continued again rather than take his client’s interrogatories, which he could have done. The defendant’s counsel offered no testimony on the hearing of the motion for a continuance as to what assistance his client could render had he been present. Other than the defendant’s answer denying “each and every paragraph of the petition,” there is no contention that the defendant did not sign'the notes or that he had ever paid them. In view of the fact that the case had several times been continued at the instance of the defendant, and had been put upon terms for more than a year, that counsel for defendant knew of his client’s physical condition and the likelihood of Ms inability to attend court, that with this knowledge he did not take the defendant’s interrogatories, and that there was no doctor’s certificate of the defendant’s inability to attend court, the trial court did not abuse his discretion in re-’ fusing to continue the case. See Stanford v. New England Mortgage. Security Co., supra; Camp v. Britt, 121 Ga. 466 (49 S. E. 286); Bomar v. Equitable Mortgage Co., 121 Ga. 466 (49 S. E. 267); Seagraves v. Powell Co., 136 Ga. 877, 878, 879 (72 S. E. 349); Gable v. Gable, 130 Ga. 689 (1, 2) (61 S. E. 595); Porter v. Porter, 17 Ga. App. 456 (87 S. E. 707).
The 3d and 4th special grounds of the motion for a new' trial allege error upon the admission in evidence of the notes sued upon; the objection being that the execution of the assignment on the back of the notes had not been proved, and the transfer of title thereto from Old Dominion Trust Company to Atlantic Life Insurance Company had not been proved. The transfer on the back of the notes was in proper form, and was signed “Old Dominion Trust Co. H. E. Litchford, V.-Pres. (Corp. Seal.)” The
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.