Savannah Bank & Trust Co. v. Keane
Savannah Bank & Trust Co. v. Keane
Opinion of the Court
Two attachments were brought against William Donald Wood, upon which summons of garnishment issued and were served upon Savannah Bank & Trust Company on January 22, 1971. The bank answered indebted in a stated sum on March 1, 1971, the answer being sworn to by one of its officials. On March 5, 1971, the garnishee bank filed what it denominated a "motion for reconsideration” which reads as follows: "Now comes the Savannah Bank & Trust Company of Savannah, garnishee in the above styled causes, and amends its answer heretofore filed as follows: 1. It shows that on February 25, 1971, it paid into the court the sum of four hundred sixty-three and 90/100 dollars ($463.90) in answer to both garnishments, to wit: numbers 276-327 and 048594. 2. It now appears that said property is not subject to garnishment for the reason that it was in a joint savings account in the name of William Donald Wood and Elizabeth Wood, she being his wife, and Elizabeth Wood had pledged it to the Savannah Bank & Trust Company, garnishee herein, as security for a loan. A copy of the note is attached hereto as Exhibit 'A’ and a copy of the withdrawal slip which the bank used to assign the proceeds as security is attached as Exhibit 'B.’ 3. Garnishee is informed that William Donald Wood and Elizabeth Wood are no longer to be found within Chatham County and garnishee does not know to what far country they might
Error is enumerated (1) on the refusal of the court to allow its amendment to the answer and have the money returned to it from the registry of the court, and (2) that the trial court erred in rendering judgment against the garnishee and ordering the funds paid over to the plaintiffs. Held:
1. The pleading denominated "motion to reconsider” was obviously an amendment to the answer of the garnishee (see Chance v. Planters Rural Tel. Co-Op., 219 Ga. 1, 5 (131 SE2d 541); Crow v. Mothers Beautiful Co., 115 Ga. App. 747, 748 (156 SE2d 193)) coupled with a motion, in view of the amendment, to require the funds, deposited by the garnishee in the registry of the court and allegedly held by the attorney for the plaintiffs, to be re
2. The remaining enumeration of error must be decided in the light of that amendment to the answer of the garnishee. While no traverse was filed by the plaintiffs to the amended answer, but it appearing that a hearing was had and evidence introduced in support of the allegations contained in the amendment, we will, for the purpose of this appeal, treat it as if such a traverse had been filed.
The trial judge, instead of determining from the evidence whether or not the garnishee was indebted to the defendant, erroneously passed over any such question and held that the garnishee was negligent in not ascertaining the proper status of the savings account prior to filing the original answer and that it lost any claim that it might have had to the funds paid into court pursuant thereto, citing as authority Lawton v. Branch & Cooper, 62 Ga. 350. That case involved a motion to set aside a judgment and the question there was whether or not excusable neglect existed under the facts. No such question is legally involved here as the garnishee had a right to amend its answer. The trial court erred, therefore, in holding as it did, and for that reason ordering the funds disbursed to plaintiffs.
Since the trial judge did not determine from the evidence or the pleadings alone, in the absence of a traverse, whether or not the garnishee was indebted to defendants, neither do we; but we remand the case to the trial judge to make some determination upon proper pleadings or motion, as the case may be. As to what constitutes a so-called "joint account,” or if there be such in the eyes of the law, and from what evidence such a determination is made, see Code §§ 85-1001 and 85-1002; Equitable Loan &c. Co. v. Waring, 117 Ga. 599, 676 (44 SE 320, 62 LRA 93, 97 ASR 177); Harrison v. Harrison, 105 Ga. 517, 520 (31 SE 455, 70 ASR 60); Wilson v. Brown, 221 Ga. 273, 277 (144 SE2d 332); Taylor v. Citizens & Southern Bank of Ga., 226 Ga. 15 (2) (172 SE2d 617); Leonas v. Johnson, 122 Ga. App. 160 (2) (176 SE2d 506).
Judgment reversed with direction.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.