Home Mart Building Centers, Inc. v. Wallace
Home Mart Building Centers, Inc. v. Wallace
Opinion of the Court
Home Mart Building Centers, Inc. contends it furnished materials in the construction of a dwelling of J. B. Sampselle and We Built, Inc. in Carroll County, Georgia, and a materialmen’s lien was filed against the property on the 25th of June, 1974, allegedly "within three (3) months, since same was furnished.” Thereafter, suit was filed against We Built, Inc. and J. B. Sampselle. Sampselle answered, admitting that he owned the property but denied the claimed indebtedness. He subsequently sought a third party action against his predecessor in title, J. R. West, alleging that West is or
Plaintiff thereafter obtained leave to amend the complaint showing that on August 5,1975, Peoples Bank had foreclosed on the property and at the foreclosure sale said property was "brought in” by W. J. Wallace, d/b/a Wallace Building Supply Co., and that he is now the record owner of said property and that he should be made a co-defendant in this action, seeking a general judgment against Wallace, as well as a judgment granting a special lien on said land and to foreclose the lien on said real estate against the defendant Wallace. Wallace then became a party defendant.
Oh August 27, 1975, Sampselle was dismissed with prejudice by the plaintiff. Wallace, as successor in title to Sampselle, answered denying generally the claim adopting all defenses of Sampselle as available to him since he was the successor in title to Sampselle and that the action as amended failed to state a claim against him. Wallace moved for dismissal after the plaintiff had dismissed the complaint against Sampselle with prejudice, contending that no claim would thereafter be pending against him on which relief cavn be granted in that if Wallace was in fact any way liable, it was because of Sampselle and that has been adjudicated with prejudice without damages. The third party defendant West was thereafter dismissed and he is no longer involved in the litigation. The motion of Wallace was sustained, and he was likewise dismissed.
Plaintiff appealed prematurely from the judgment dismissing Wallace, and this appeal was dismissed in Home Mart Bldg. Centers, Inc. v. Wallace, 139 Ga. App. 49 (228 SE2d 22). The case then proceeded to trial after a pre-trial order, and a general judgment was rendered against the defendant We Built, Inc. Plaintiff again appeals the dismissal of Wallace. Held:
It is noted that no lien was filed against Wallace but against J. B. Sampselle who was dismissed from this action with prejudice. Wallace purchased at the foreclosure of the property by the bank. Plaintiff alleges
But, in addition, Wallace, as purchaser of the property at foreclosure obtained with that title, "however conveyed to him, at public or private sale, all the rights which any former owner of the land, under whom he claims, may have had by virtue of any covenants, of warranty of title, or of quiet enjoyment, or of freedom from encumbrances, contained in the conveyance from any former grantor, unless the transmission of such covenants with the land is expressly negatived in the covenant itself.” Code Ann. § 29-301 (Ga. L. 1935, p. 112; 1962, p. 540; 1971, p. 814). Wallace was a subsequent purchaser who will be affected by the equities between previous parties. See Martin v. Gordon, 24 Ga. 533, 535. Thus,
For both of the foregoing reasons, the court did not err in dismissing Wallace, the subsequent purchaser.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.