324 S.E.2d 532 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1984
Appellants/landlords filed a dispossessory action against appellee/tenant on November 28, 1983. A writ of possession issued on December 7, 1983, after appellee had failed to answer within the statutorily prescribed time. See OCGA § 44-7-51. Appellee subsequently answered and moved to have the writ of possession set aside. The trial court set aside the default judgment and the writ of possession, and the case proceeded to trial where the jury returned a verdict for appellee. Appellants now raise as error the denial of their motions for partial directed verdict and judgment notwithstanding the verdict as well as the setting aside of the default judgment and writ of possession.
1. Appellee’s motion to dismiss that portion of the appeal concerning the default judgment is without merit. OCGA § 5-6-34 (c) permits review of “all judgments, rulings, or orders rendered in the case which are raised on appeal and which may affect the proceedings below . . . without regard to the appealability of the judgment, ruling, or order standing alone and without regard to whether the judgment, ruling, or order appealed from was final or was appealable by some other express provision of law contained in . . . this Code . . .”
2. In order to resolve this appeal, we need only address the merits of appellants’ argument concerning the setting aside of the default judgment and the writ of possession.
“Before November of 1982, OCGA § 44-7-53 (a) provided, in pertinent part, ‘(a) If the tenant fails to answer at or before the date
Judgment reversed.