163 Ga. 525 | Ga. | 1927
Lead Opinion
0. J. Rashlor filed a suit against Fred Miner and J. P. Dukes, in the nature of an equitable petition. Thereafter an amendment setting up additional facts was filed. Miss Annie Faughnan was made a party defendant in the suit, and an
The exception to the judgment overruling the demurrer to the petition requires us to consider whether the plaintiif in his pleading stated a cause of action', even though the petition might in some particulars be so defective as to require further amendment. The petition as amended made the following case: Alice Miner, a .resident of Bryan County, died seized and possessed of 112 acres of land fully described in the petition, known as “the old court-house tract.” On March 5, 1906, Annie Eaughnan was appointed as administratrix of the estate of Alice Miner, duly qualified as administratrix, immediately took possession of the tract just described, and remained in possession thereof as administratrix until she sold the same in pursuance of an applica
Before the rulings were rendered of which complaint is made, the petitioner amended by alleging that his possession has been
Annie Faughnan demurred generally upon' the ground that the petition set forth no cause of action; that it negatives equitable rights, and plaintiff has a full, adequate, and complete remedy at law. Specially, upon the ground that the petition is multifarious, and is demurrable as a misjoinder of actions and of parties defendant. There are other special demurrers to certain paragraphs of the petition, which, so far as not passed upon by the court below, need not be considered now, because the defects complained of, if they be defects, are such as may be cured by amendment. In its main features the decision in this case is controlled by the judgment of this court in Dukes v. Bashlor, 162 Ga. 403 (134 S. E. 98). We held then that the court correctly overruled the demurrers based upon the ground of multifariousness and misjoinder of parties and causes of action. According to the allegations of the petition the court had before it the subject-matter in which all the parties were concerned, and in which each and all of them had an interest. Treating the allegations of the petition as true, the case is one in which a party has paid $1,875 to one of two
The point is made that the prayers of the petitioner are contra
The ruling upon the motion of the plaintiff in error that she be dismissed from the suit antedated the court’s ruling upon the demurrers, but we have preferred to consider this ruling last, because, if the court correctly should have sustained the general demurrer, that ruling would have been an end of the case not only as to the present plaintiff in error but as to all of the defendants. The motion of plaintiff in error that she be dismissed from the case is based upon the ground as alleged that “service by publication” was not made upon her. She relies upon the fact that no newspaper was filed in the clerk’s office of Bryan County and mailed to her, in compliance with Code section 5557. She alleges that her residence was well known to the plaintiff, and for that reason the notice published in the Bryan County Enterprise should have been mailed to her. The lower court heard evidence upon the point whether either the plaintiff or his two attorneys knew where the plaintiff in error lived. The attorneys testified that they had no knowledge of her residence, further than the fact that they were informed and believed that she was not .a resident of the State of Georgia. So far as the evidence is concerned, the court was authorized to find this to be the truth, although the plaintiff in error relied upon the circumstance that there was a statement
However, even if for any reason the service by publication was defective, the judge was authorized to overrule the motion to dismiss the defendant administratrix from the case. The action is a proceeding quasi in rem, considering the alternative relief prayed for, and not a purely personal one, as argued .by counsel for plaintiff in error, in which argument he overlooks the fact that the plaintiff asserts that he is entitled to the possession of the res involved in the case and prays to be put in possession thereof, only asking as an alternative that, if he can not have what he bought, the purchase-price with interest thereon be returned to him. In a case which presents for adjudication the determination of the ownership of a certain described piece of property or a certain fund of money which is within the jurisdiction of the court, all persons interested in the subject-matter are not only proper but necessary parties; and although the administratrix be a non-resident, the court is not deprived of its jurisdiction. Where the res is within the jurisdiction of the court, the court is not deprived of its jurisdiction by reason of the fact that some party interested therein is not within the jurisdiction, if others interested in the subject-matter are properly within the jurisdiction of the court.
Judgment affirmed.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring specially. I concur in the result reached in this case.» I can not agree to all that is said in the opinion and in the corresponding headnote. When this case was here before, we held that the petition set forth a good cause of action, and that the trial court properly overruled the demurrer thereto. Dukes v. Bashlor, supra. Eor this reason, when a new party was made and the demurrer was renewed by the new party, the trial judge properly overruled the demurrer and refused to dismiss the petition thereon.
One of the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the petition for lack of service upon her. She likewise demurred generally to the petition, but filed the same subject to her motion to dismiss, reserving the right to insist upon this motion. Thereafter the demurrer was heard by the trial judge, and it does not appear that the defendant made- any objection to the hearing upon her demurrer, or that she then insisted on her motion to dismiss the petition for want of service. A judgment was rendered by the trial court overruling the demurrer, and thereafter the defendant insisted on her motion to dismiss for want of service. In these circumstances she waived her right to insist upon her motion to'dismiss for lack of service, and service was thereby waived. Savannah &c. Ry. Co. v. Atkinson, 94 Ga. 780 (21 S. E. 1010); Americus Grocery Co. v. Brackett, 119 Ga. 489 (7) (46 S. E. 657) ; 31 Cyc. 343. For these reasons I concur in the judgment of affirmance. There is nothing which conflicts with this holding in W. & A. R. Co. v. Pitts, 79 Ga. 532 (4 S. E. 921); Stallings v. Stallings, 127 Ga. 464 (56 S. E. 469, 9 L. R. A. (N. S.) 593); McFarland v. McFarland, 151 Ga. 9 (3) (105 S. E. 596). In those cases it was simply held that a plea to the merits is not a waiver of a timely plea to the jurisdiction or a traverse of the sheriff’s return of