City Motors, Inc. v. Georgia Power Co.
City Motors, Inc. v. Georgia Power Co.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. The burden is on the defendant here, in its motion for summary judgment, to affirma
Let us then examine the evidence in the light of this rule. None of the evidence submitted to the jury on the trial of the issue as to where the dividing line lay between the plaintiff’s property and the "property of the City of Athens” was before the lower court or is before this court in the present case. The only evidence is the affidavits of the defendant Power Company employees and an affidavit of an officer of the plaintiff corporation, which, eliminating conclusionary statements as to good faith or bad faith, are as follows: Affidavit of Georgia Power Company employees in charge of installing power lines: "At the time of the above transactions deponent and others representing Georgia Power Company had a plat showing the width of Epps Bridge Road to be 35 feet, and the width of the paving and curbing in said road totaled approximately 28 feet, varying in few inches from place to place. A copy of said plat is attached hereto as Exhibit A. Also at such times there was already in existence along and southerly from the southerly curb line of Epps Bridge Road a Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Company line and poles. For the reasons stated above, deponent considered that the proposed locations of poles and the places where such poles were later installed were within the right-of-way of Epps Bridge Road, and that there would be ho encroachment on property of City Motors, Inc. ...”
Affidavit of the officer of the plaintiff corporation, Jack W. Morton: "Jack W. Morton informed Joe B. Neighbors as representative of the Georgia Power Company and other employees of the Georgia Power Company that they could not erect any poles or guy wires or place any wires thereon on the property lying south of the curb line of Epps Bridge Road between Hawthorne Avenue and the end of City Motors, Inc. property on the west side thereof. This information was imparted to the said Joe B. Neighbors and other
I am authorized to state that Judges Evans and Stolz concur in this dissent.
Opinion of the Court
City Motors, Inc. filed its ejectment suit against Georgia Power Company claiming title to certain land located on the south side of the Epps Bridge Road in the City of Athens, Clarke County, and asking for punitive damages because of the acts of the Georgia Power Company in constructing certain poles, towers, and other appurtenant structures on the property after having been notified that it was not the property of the City of Athens or Georgia Power Company but belonged solely to City Motors, Inc.
The defendant, Georgia Power Company, filed its defensive pleadings claiming that the property on which it had located its power lines was the property of the City of Athens and on the right of way of the City of Athens and Clarke County and that the property did not belong to City Motors, Inc.
The case was divided into three parts, the first being tried
After this verdict had been made the judgment of the court Georgia Power Company then amended its answer and filed a cross action seeking to condemn a certain stretch of land on the south side of the Epps Bridge Road in Athens, belonging to City Motors, Inc. The condemnation cross action was then tried and a verdict of $6,000 was returned on hehalf of City Motors, Inc. against Georgia Power Company and the same was made the judgment of the court.
Georgia Power Company then moved for summary judgment on the issue of punitive damages contending that there was no genuine issue of fact as to punitive damages because of the actions of Georgia Power Company. The appellee’s motion for summary judgment as to punitive damages was granted and an appeal was filed. Held:
The granting of the summary judgment was not error because the evidence showed that the employees of the appellee had adequate reason to believe that they were locating the equipment within the right of way of the City of Athens. Ga. R. & Bkg. Co. v. Gardner, 115 Ga. 954 (42 SE 250).
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.