56 Ga. App. 313 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1937
On February 11, 1937, the court sustained certain special demurrers to the petition, and passed the following order: “The plaintiff is allowed fifteen days in which to amend as herein required; in default of which the case will stand as dismissed." No amendment ivas offered. Subsequently to the fifteen-day period a bill of exceptions was filed, in which error was assigned on said order. The bill of exceptions contains no other assignment of er'ror. The defendant in error made a motion to dismiss the writ of error, on the ground that no exception therein was taken to any final judgment, but only on rulings on special demurrers to the petition. Hnder the ruling in Smith v. Albright-England Co., 171 Ga. 544 (156 S. E. 313), and Clark v. Ganson, 144 Ga. 544 (87 S. E. 670), the motion to dismiss is denied.
The general demurrer to the petition was specifically overruled. However, as shown above, the court held that if the plaintiff failed to amend the petition within fifteen days, so as to meet the special'demurrers which were sustained, “the case will stand as dismissed;” and no amendments were offered. Omitting formal parts, and the paragraphs which were stricken on special demurrer and which were not amended, the petition is as follows: “2. Defendant has injured and damaged petitioner in the sum of $25,000, for that your petitioner avers: 3. Among other things, the defendant is engaged in the manufacture, bottling, and distribution for sale at retail of a soft drink commonly known as Orange Crush. 4. Petitioner shows that defendant, among others, delivers, and on the date in this petition set forth and prior to the date set
Conceding that the special demurrers to the petition were properly sustained, the delinquencies pointed out thereby did not relate to the entire cause of action,'nor were the allegations called for by the special demurrers essential to the cause of action; and the remaining unstricken allegations of the petition did set out a cause of action. This being true, it was error for the judge to order that “the case will stand as dismissed” in default of the’ plaintiff amending within fifteen days; and especially so since he overruled the general demurrer, thus holding that the petition set out a cause of action. The general rule as to a special demurrer is: “If a special demurrer is urged to a petition, or other pleading, already of file, attacking only certain parts of it, and is sustained, the result is to eliminate the parts so held lad.” (Italics ours.) White v. Little, 139 Ga. 522 (3) (77 S. E. 646). And in McSwain v. Edge, 6 Ga. App. 9, 11 (64 S. E. 116), it was said: “The proper judgment on a special demurrer, going only to the meagerness of the allegations, is not a peremptory judgment of- dismissal of the action, but a judgment requiring the plaintiff to amend and to make his petition more certain in the particulars wherein he has been delinquent; and then if he refuses to amend, the petition may be dismissed, if the delinquency relates to the entire cause of action. However, if the special demurrer goes only to some particular part of the petition, without whidL a valid cause of action would still le set forth, the result of finally sustaining the special demurrer would be, not to,dismiss the action, but to strike the defective portion.” (Italics ours.) See also Watts v. Rich, 49 Ga.App. 334, 337 (2-c) (175 S. E. 417), and cit.; Moseley v. Equitable Life Assurance Society, 49 Ga. App. 424 (3) (176 S. E. 87), and pit. Under the foregoing authorities and the pleadings' in this
Judgment reversed.