15 S.E.2d 499 | Ga. | 1941
1. Even after the term when a judgment or decree is rendered, a mere irregularity, such as the inclusion of principal and interest in a gross amount allowing the recovery of interest on interest, may be so corrected by amendment that only the principal sum will bear interest, if by an inspection of the record, including the pleadings and verdict, or the approved findings of a master or commissioner, and without extraneous proof, the respective amounts of principal and interest can be correctly segregated.
(a) An exception to such a right of amendment exists under the principle of estoppel only if the error has misled and prejudiced the party opposing the amendment. The claimant was not entitled to prevent the amendment or to prevail under this principle, since no prejudice resulting from a reliance on the original decree was shown, and since it took its deed to the property after such decree and was bound by its terms approving the commissioner's report, which showed the proper amounts of principal and interest.
(b) Under the preceding rules, the court did not err, on motion of the plaintiff in fi. fa., in amending the original decree rendered in an equitable partition proceeding, where the principal and interest were properly segregated in accordance with the approved findings of the commissioner.
2. A fieri facias may be so amended as to conform to the judgment upon which it is issued. Code, § 39-109. The amendment of the original decree being proper, the amendment of the execution in conformity with the amended decree was proper.
3. Under the preceding rulings, the court did not err in admitting in evidence the amended decree and execution, and in entering judgment against the claimant.
During the term when a judgment or decree is rendered, the judge, in the exercise of a sound discretion to correct errors and promote justice, has plenary power to amend, modify, revise, supplement, or even supersede, revoke, or vacate his previous judgment or decree. Latimer v. Sweat,
(58 S.E. 54); Read Phosphate Co. v. Wells,
Nothing to the contrary was held in Bishop v. PendleyLumber Co.,
Under the foregoing rules, the court did not err, on motion of the plaintiff in fi. fa., in amending the original decree, even though several years passed before the amendment, where, although the decree found for the plaintiff a stated aggregate amount of "principal *414 and interest to date," yet the decree approved the commissioner's report in the record, which found in favor of the plaintiff a stated amount of principal, to be prorated between the cotenants, who were parties to the case, found the date when the plaintiff paid the principal amount, found that she recover interest at seven per cent. thereon, and found other data, affording a basis for ready calculation of the respective amounts of principal and interest due by this defendant in fi. fa. at the time of the original decree; and where the amendment merely segregated the lump total into its proper components of principal and interest according to the approved findings of the commissioner, and provided for future interest only on the principal, as required by the Code, §§ 110-304, 57-108. The approved findings of the commissioner or master were analogous to the verdict of a jury as a basis for amending the decree.
The claimant excepted also to the amendment of the judgment, on the ground that the amendment was one of substance, "affecting the merits and one affecting the rights of claimant [as] a bona fide purchaser for value." While it is true, under the doctrine of estoppel, that an amendment of a judgment or decree might be precluded if the error has misled and prejudiced the one who opposes the amendment (Rogers v. Rigell, supra, citing 1 Black on Judgments (2d ed.), 223, 224, § 155), there was no evidence to show that the present claimant relied on the terms of the original decree, or to show prejudice from such a reliance. Furthermore, even had such a reliance and prejudice been shown, the claimant bought the land from the defendant in fi. fa. after the entry of the original decree, and was bound by the record in the case. The decree by its terms "approved" the report of the commissioner, which showed all of the data forming the basis of the amendment; and the amendment properly conforming thereto, so as to correct a manifest inaccuracy, the claimant was not entitled to object under the principle of estoppel. The decision in Ligon v. Rogers,
The additional contention, by brief of the claimant, that the amendment was erroneous because the plaintiff in fi. fa. did not give the defendant in fi. fa. any notice of the motion to amend the decree, does not appear in any exception or assignment of error. The amendment of the original decree being proper, the amendment of the fi. fa. also was proper; and the court did not err in admitting the amendments in evidence, and in finding against the claimant.
Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.