Motorola Communications & Electronics, Inc. v. South Georgia Natural Gas Co.
Motorola Communications & Electronics, Inc. v. South Georgia Natural Gas Co.
Opinion of the Court
The sole question to be determined is whether the correspondence and acts of the respective parties, as reflected by the record in the instant case, constitute accord and satisfaction so as to bar the plaintiff’s right to pursue an action for the purchase price of the radio equipment.
“When a creditor receives and retains a sum of money from his debtor less than the amount actually due him with the understanding, either express or implied, that it is received by him in satisfaction of his claim or demand, he cannot thereafter treat it as a nullity and recover the balance. . .” Rivers v. Cole Corp., 209 Ga. 406 (73 SE2d 196). As stated in Citizens &
Receipt of the defendant’s letter and check was acknowledged by the plaintiff in a letter to the defendant’s president which stated, in part, that the defendant’s check in the amount of $2,215 was received, but that it “suffices to pay only thaf portion of your Company’s indebtedness to Motorola Communications and Electronics, Inc., which arose as a result of the survey conducted on your behalf pursuant to your Purchase Order No. 1061, dated January 7, 1960. The check does not provide any consideration over that which you agreed to pay for the survey and cannot be accepted as any more than payment for said survey in accordance with your legal obligations with regard thereto.” The plaintiff undertook to refuse the offer of settlement (while keeping the proceeds of such check) which effort was futile. As stated by Justice Duckworth (now Chief Justice) in his dissent in Sylvania Electric Products v. Electrical Wholesalers, 198 Ga. 870, 879 (33 SE2d 5), which was approved and adopted in Rivers v. Cole Corp., 209 Ga. 406, supra: “Had the creditor, while in the very act of appropriating the proceeds of the check, loudly declared his disagreement with the terms upon which the tender was made, and such declarations had been communicated to the debtor, under the controlling decisions of this court he would nevertheless and despite such declarations have been held as a matter of law to have agreed to all of the conditions attached to the tender.”
The plaintiff in its brief concedes that the first sentence of the defendant’s letter “would indicate that the defendant was making full payment of all [its] indebtedness” to the plaintiff. However, plaintiff contends the remaining portion of the letter renders it ambiguous in that the payment for the radio equipment was excluded or excepted from the tender of the check as a settlement. (See U. S. Fidelity &c. Co. v. Campbell Decorating Co., 102 Ga. App. 694, supra.
While it is our decision that the tender by the defendant and the acceptance by the plaintiff of the check in less amount than the total indebtedness amounted to an accord and satisfaction at the time the check was accepted, such accord and satisfaction may be rescinded by agreement, or waived by acts or conduct of a party thereto, whereby the debt would be restored to its original status. Dixie Belle Mills, Inc. v. Specialty Machine Co., 217 Ga. 104 (120 SE2d 771). It is undisputed that the defendant continued to make monthly payments for maintenance of the two-way radio* equipment for a period of six months after the plaintiff had accepted and received the check aforesaid. The defendant’s president, in response to the following question: “State whether or not the radio equipment ... is still in use by the defendant,” answered: “Not in satisfactory use.” The above certainly intimated that the defendant was still using the equipment.
As already stated, one of the terms of defendant’s letter was that the plaintiff take back the radio equipment which the defendant had stated was not operating satisfactorily. Implicit therein is that the defendant relinquished all claims and title to the radio equipment. While the plaintiff had a reasonable time to remove the equipment, the defendant could not continuously use the equipment as if such were its own. However, it should be stated that plaintiff’s action in the instant case cannot be construed as one seeking recovery for the reasonable value of the use of the defendant’s equipment after September 1, 1960, because neither the pleadings nor the evidence make such an issue.
Under the pleadings and evidence in this case there is a jury question as to whether the defendant waived its rights to insist upon accord and satisfaction.
As stated in Dixie Belle Mills, Inc. v. Specialty Machine Co., 217 Ga. 104, 111 supra: “Generally, where the testimony
Judgment reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- MOTOROLA COMMUNICATIONS & ELECTRONICS, INC. v. SOUTH GEORGIA NATURAL GAS COMPANY
- Cited By
- 13 cases
- Status
- Published