Dixon v. American Buildings Co.
Dixon v. American Buildings Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from the judgment awarded against appellant in the amount of $10,028.81, and of the trial court’s denial of appellant’s motions for new trial and for judgment n.o.v.
During the terms of the dealership agreement, appellant received a total of two orders from the Harrison Construction Company. In April 1982, appellee received a purchase order from the Harrison Construction Company as builder, signed by appellant’s father, to ship steel building components to the Glen Marsh job site. Appellee filled this order, and received a check from the Harrison Construction Company, signed by appellant’s father, which was returned by the bank due to insufficient funds. Although Glen Marsh paid the Harrison Construction Company on May 18, 1982, and the Glen Marsh check was deposited in the construction company’s bank account, appellee never was paid for the materials on this account. Appellant’s father currently is in bankruptcy. During the period in question, appellant was appellee’s only dealer in the Griffin, Georgia area, so any purchase order it received from that area would of necessity had to have been a Harrison B. Dixon order.
Appellant asserted that he signed the dealership application only at his father’s direction; that he was basically unaware of the construction company’s operation; that he did not participate in the decision to order the building for Marsh; that he would work on job sites on occasion, including the Marsh job site; and that he was not paid by a salary, but was given money by his father as needed. However, appellant’s father judicially admitted that appellant’s signature was on the Harrison Construction Company bank account and appellant could write checks on the company. Moreover, in response to appellee’s request for admissions,'filed pursuant to OCGA § 9-11-36, appellant admitted that he “is indebted to the [appellee] in some amount.”
Appellant reached the age of majority on February 26, 1983. The appellee’s complaint was filed on or about April 4, 1983. Appellant filed his answer to the complaint on May 16, 1983, and did not assert minority as an affirmative defense in these pleadings nor otherwise attempt to renounce any contract with the appellee. On May 30, 1986,
The jury returned a verdict for the appellee in the amount of $10,028.81, excluding interest. Judgment was entered for appellee. Appellant moved for a judgment n.o.v. and for a new trial. The trial court denied both motions. Held:
1. Appellant asserts that the trial court erred in not ruling that the appellant disaffirmed the contract by filing the pretrial order, as the pretrial order would relate back to appellant’s original answer filed within two months of appellant’s eighteenth birthday and would constitute a seasonable rejection of the contract as a matter of law.
Appellant’s reliance on Carreras v. Austell Box Bd. Corp., 154 Ga. App. 135 (267 SE2d 792) is misplaced as it is distinguishable from the facts before us.
Pretermitting the issue of whether defense of contract disaffirmance raised in the pretrial order caused an implied amendment of the pleadings that would relate back to the date of appellant’s original answer is a question of whether such a procedural result would actually operate to amend the date on which appellant first expressed to appellee an intent to disaffirm the contracts in question. While it is clear that the parties could enter a binding stipulation regarding the date when contract disaffirmance was first attempted, no such stipu
2. Appellant asserts that the evidence failed to show his reaffirmation of the contract in question by the defendant upon his reaching majority and therefore the contract is void.
On appeal, we must construe the evidence most strongly to support both the jury’s verdict and the judgment. Williams v. Perry, 187 Ga. App. 586 (1) (370 SE2d 836), citing McLarty v. Kushner, 173 Ga. App. 432 (1) (326 SE2d 777). We find that there is ample evidence in the trial record to support the verdict and judgment in this case.
Appellant’s other enumerations of error are without merit.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.