168 Ga. App. 664 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1983
Although the issues in this case are relatively simple, it reaches us in a somewhat muddled procedural posture.
The appellant bank sued the appellee to collect an alleged indebtedness on a VISA charge card account. The appellee denied liability and counterclaimed for $1,000 in attorney fees and $25,000 in punitive damages based on the bank’s alleged “stubborn litigiousness” in filing the suit. After some discovery had been completed, the bank filed an amendment striking the appellee as the party defendant and purporting to substitute his son as the defendant in his stead. The appellee responded by moving for summary judgment on both the complaint and the counterclaim. The trial court granted this motion insofar as the complaint was concerned and apparently also determined as a matter of law that the appellee was entitled to recover on the counterclaim. This appeal is directed to the latter ruling. Held:
“Stubborn litigiousness” does not in and of itself give rise to a cause of action for damages but is instead a factor which may enable a
Judgment reversed.