Bell Finance Co. v. Johnson
Bell Finance Co. v. Johnson
Opinion of the Court
Johnson made a partial assignment of his wages to the plaintiff, Bell Finance Company, without obtaining the assent of his employer to such assignment. Thereafter the employer paid to Johnson the wages which he had assigned to the plaintiff. Plaintiff brought suit in the municipal court of Augusta against Johnson for the amount of the wages assigned to it by Johnson, claiming
Under the answers of the Supreme Court to the questions certified to it by this court in this case, where an employee executes a partial assignment of wages earned, which is not assented to by the employer, and the employee, without the consent of the assignee, collects the wages assigned and converts them to his own use, he commits a wrongful conversion, for which he may be sued at law by the assignee; and in the event of bankruptcy of the employee before he has accounted to the assignee for the amount of wages assigned to the assignee, the claim of the latter, being a fiduciary claim, is not affected by the bankruptcy of the employee. Bell Finance Co. v. Johnson, 180 Ga. 567 (179 S. E. 703). See Hubbard v. Bibb Brokerage Co., 44 Ga. App. 1 (160 S. E. 639); Holmes v. Bennett, 49 Ga. App. 860 (176 S. E. 836). Therefore the judge of the superior court erred in sustaining the defendant’s petition for certiorari and in rendering final judgment on the defendant’s plea in his favor.
Judgment reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.