9 Ga. App. 842 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1911
Bare possession, either of land or a chattel, authorizes the possessor to recover damages from any person who wrongfully in any manner interferes with such possession. Civil Code (1910), §§ 4472, 4482; Connally v. Hall, 84 Ga. 198 (10 S. E. 738). The petition in the present case alleges both possession in the plaintiff and illegal interference therewith by the defendant; and this alone would entitle the plaintiff to recover general damages; so the petition is good as against a general demurrer. Civil Code (1910), § 4507.
Where an intruder illegally interferes with or evicts a tenant, the tenant can recover the value of the premises for rent during the remainder of the time. Bass v. West, 110 Ga. 698 (36 S. E. 244). Ordinarily this value is ascertained by proof of the difference in the market value of the term before and after the trespass; but where the tenancy is at will, or for any other reason has no market value, the actual damages must be determined by the jury in the light of the relevant proved facts and circumstances. Hayes v. Atlanta, 1 Ga. App. 26 (4), (57 S. E. 1087); Bass v. West, 110 Ga. 698 (4), (36 S. E. 244).
The petition alleges that the plaintiff was tenant in possession of the property, but fails to allege the nature or duration of the ten
The same general principles apply to the other items of damage alleged. The plaintiff could not recover the expense he' incurred in feeding the stock for five months; but he could recover the actual reasonable cost of feeding the stock while he was rebuilding or repairing the fence, or he could recover the difference between the value of the tenancy before and after the trespass, this difference to be determined as stated above.
Likewise as to the eight acres of land used’as a log yard. The value (;f the oat crop which the plaintiff might have grown on the land, if seasons had been good, or the other usual hazards of agriculture had been successfully passed, is not ordinarily the proper measure of damage. The value of the eight acres can be best ascertained by taking the value of the whole tenancy at the date of the trespass, and then determining how much that value has been lessened or diminished by the illegal trespass of the defendant; or the rental value of the eight acres may be shown. This is compensation for the injury done, and ’ ordinarily this is the measure of ■damage.
It appears that the petition is good in substance, but subject to-a multitude of special demurrers. The judgment sustaining the general demurrer is reversed, and direction is given that the plaintiff be permitted a reasonable time to amend his allegations as to the recovery of damages in conformity with this opinion. On the allegations made, the plaintiff can recover only general damages. If lie seeks other damages, he should amend by alleging facts as to the kind and duration of his tenancy, or any other fact showing that he had property which was lessened in value by the wrongful acts of the defendant. Judgment reversed.