86 Ga. 17 | Ga. | 1890
The action was brought in 1888 by petition, the petition importing on its face that the Gress Lumber Company, a corporation under the laws of this State, sued for the use of A. B. Steele. It alleged that the defendants below (plaintiffs in error here) were indebted to the petitioner in the sum of $503.00, besides interest, on an account “as will more fully appear from the bill of particulars hereto attached.” A bill of particulars was attached, headed: “Mr. W. E. Bowe, Atlanta, bought of A. B. Steele.” The petition contained a second count, as follows :
“Petitioners further show that said W. E. Bowe and M. E. Maher are indebted to it, for the use of A. B. Steele, in the further sum of five hundred and three and sixty-one-100 dollars, besides interest, for that, heretofore, to wit, on the-day of July, 1886, the said defendants, in the name of W. E. Bowe, having the contract for certain work at the IT. S. barracks, in said county, made a contract with said Gress Lumber Company to furnish a certain bill of lumber for the said barracks, it being understood at the time between the parties that A. B. Steele was to furnish one half of said*19 lumber, and that both defendants were contracting for and were to be responsible for the same, although it was to be ‘billed’ in the name of W. F. Bowe only. That under said contract and agreement by and between said defendants on the one side, and said Gress Lumber Company and- A. B. Steele on the other, said Steele furnished to said Maher and Bowe, billing the same in the name of W. F. Bowe, lumber as shown in the account hereto attached as a bill of particulars under the first count; thereby said defendants became indebted to petitioners, for the said use, in the said sum of five hundred and three and 61-100 dollars, which said sum they refuse to pay.”
Defendants having pleaded specially that neither of them made any contract or had any relations with A. B. Steele touching the lumber, the price of which was sued for, and that Steele had no authority or consent of the Gress Lumber Company to bring or prosecute this suit in the company’s name for his use, the special plea was tried, by consent, before the judge without a jury. After hearing evidence, the judge sustained the plea, holding that no authority of the company had been obtained; and was about to dismiss the petition, but did not do so, allowing the plaintiff to amend, the amendment filed being as follows: “And now comes the plaintiff and shows that the Gress Lumber Company consents to and ratifies the bringing of said action, and prays to he made a party plaintiff (suing for the use of A. B. Steele) to said action.” Mr. Gress, the president of the company, being present in court, assented to this amendment, and it was allowed over the objection of the defendants. The action was afterwards tried and a verdict rendered for the plaintiff. The defendants moved for a new tidal, and. the motion was overruled.
The head-notes are a part of this opinion.
Judgment affirmed.