Supreme Court of Georgia, 1980

JONES MERCANTILE COMPANY v. Lyn-Har, Inc.

Supreme Court of Georgia · Decided May 21, 1980 · Undercofler

267 S.E.2d 251; 245 Ga. 812; 1980 Ga. LEXIS 945 (South Eastern Reporter, Second Series)

Cases that cite this one

16 later published cases cite this decision.

Bishop v. Forsyth Paving Contractors, Inc. (Ga. Ct. App. 1986)
Pugh v. Norsworthy (Ga. Ct. App. 1980)
STOCK BUILDING SUPPLY, INC. v. PLATTE RIVER INSURANCE COMPANY; And Vice Versa (Ga. Ct. App. 2016)
Maverick Materials, Inc. v. Kauffman (Ga. Ct. App. 1997)
Gaster Lumber Co. v. Browning (Ga. Ct. App. 1996)
Mayer Electric Supply Co. v. Federal Insurance (Ga. Ct. App. 1990)
Dallas Building Material, Inc. v. Rose (Ga. Ct. App. 1989)
Dallas Building Material, Inc. v. Smith (Ga. Ct. App. 1989)
United Parcel Service, Inc., Etc. v. Weben Industries, Inc., and Conveyor, Machinery & Steel Erectors, Inc. v. Mercantile National Bank at Dallas (5th Cir. 1986)
Bethlehem Steel Corp. v. Tidwell (United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia 1986)
Spicewood, Inc. v. Ferro Pipeline Co. (Ga. Ct. App. 1986)
Siplast, Inc. v. Inland Container Corp. (Ga. Ct. App. 1984)
Marathon Oil Co. v. Hollis (Ga. Ct. App. 1983)
Shuman-Mann Supply Co. v. Weaver (Ga. Ct. App. 1982)
Adams v. W. P. Stephens Lumber Co. (Ga. Ct. App. 1981)
Jones Mercantile Co. v. Lyn-Har, Inc. (Ga. Ct. App. 1980)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion

Undercofler, Chief Justice.

This is a certiorari to the Court of Appeals. 1

We find the Court of Appeals’ statement in Division 1 of its opinion as follows is incomplete: " 'Where a contractor abandons his contract, "the cost of completing the work is to be deducted from the contract price in order to ascertain the amount up to which the subcontractors *813 may claim liens; and if such deductions, together with payments previously made to the contractor, equal or exceed the entire contract price, then of course the subcontractors and materialmen have no lien, since there is nothing due under the contract.” ...’ E. Smith Heating &c. Inc. v. Biggers, 139 Ga. App. 216 (1) (228 SE2d 203) [1976].”

Argued March 11, 1980 Decided May 21, 1980 Barry W. Bishop, for appellant. Toby Prodgers, for appellee.

To this statement of the law must be added a proviso that the owner is required to show that the sums paid to the contractor were properly appropriated to materialmen and laborers or that the contractor’s statutory affidavit concerning such indebtedness had been obtained. Green v. Farrar Lumber Co., 119 Ga. 30 (46 SE 62) (1903); Prince v. Neal-Millard Co., 124 Ga. 884 (53 SE 761) (1905); Code Ann. §§ 67-2001, 67-2002(3); Roberts v. Georgia Southern Supply Co., 92 Ga. App. 303 (88 SE2d 554) (1955).

Accordingly, the Court of Appeals’ judgment is vacated and the case remanded for further consideration.

Judgment vacated. Remanded to the Court of Appeals.

All the Justices concur.

Jones Mercantile Co. v. Lyn-Har, Inc., 152 Ga. App. 798 (264 SE2d 270) (1979).

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.