Rochester Capital Leasing Corp. v. Luke
Rochester Capital Leasing Corp. v. Luke
Opinion of the Court
Rochester Capital Leasing Corporation by an amended petition in the Civil Court of Fulton County sought to recover from R. X. Dupont, Inc., B. D. Luke, and Robert
In the posture of the case as presented on appeal no error is shown unless the evidence of the liability of the individual defendants demanded a determination in favor of the plaintiff. If this does not appear the jury was authorized to determine the issues, and the trial judge properly refused to direct a verdict, render judgment n.o.v., or grant a new trial. Kesler v. Kesler, 219 Ga. 592 (1) (134 SE2d 811); Smith v. Merck, 206 Ga. 361, 375 (57 SE2d 326). The plaintiff’s case for liability against the individual defendants rests on the efficacy of the unwitnessed and undated so-called “guaranty” purportedly signed by the individual defendants, which if valid and legally binding by its express terms was “a guaranty of payment and not of collection” for the rentals under “the law of the State of New York.” The fact of its execution, the date, and the circumstances are not clear from the evidence. The evidence for the plaintiff shows that the plaintiff received the instrument with an initial lease in January 1963, before the plaintiff accepted the first lease in March 1963, effective as of February 1, 1963, and that the plaintiff accepted the lease from R. X. Dupont, Inc., a new corporation without established credit, because of the “guaranty”. of the individuals. The defendant Luke admitted that his purported signature on the “guaranty” looked like his signature, but he denied signing any papers except for the corporation, once in January on the initial lease, and twice in March, on documents which he understood to be the original and a copy of a corrected lease, although he did not read the documents carefully, particularly what appeared to be the copy. He signed only three documents.
Only when there is a complete absence of probative facts to support the conclusion reached by the jury does reversible error appear. The conflicting evidence set forth above provided an evidentiary basis for the jury’s verdict and therefore a verdict for the plaintiff was not demanded. The trial court did not err for any reason assigned.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.