210 Ga. 514 | Ga. | 1954
(After stating the foregoing facts.) 1. The cross-bill of exceptions presents questions which relate to the trial court’s jurisdiction of the defendants, and they will be considered and disposed of first. Query: Did the corporate defendants or either of them have its principal office in Richmond County when this litigation was instituted, or did the individual defendant Mills at that time reside in Richmond County? We will determine this question by dealing separately with each of the three defendants.
(a) As to the defendant Knox-Georgia Homes, Inc., the evidence shows, without any dispute, that its principal office, as fixed by the terms of its charter, was in Thomson, McDuffie County, Georgia. Accordingly, the jury was clearly unauthorized to find from the evidence that this defendant’s principal office was in Richmond County, as the pleader alleged.
For the reasons shown in (a), (b), and (c) above, the evidence did not authorize a finding by the jury that the defendants or any one or more of them resided in Richmond County when this suit for injunction and damages was brought against them.
2. The Constitution of this Staté, by article VI, section XIV, paragraph III, provides that equity cases must be tried in the county where a defendant resides against whom substantial relief is prayed. Code (Ann.) § 2-4903. This constitutional provision applies to domestic corporations as well as to individuals. State of Ga. v. Atlantic Ice & Coal Co., 180 Ga. 285 (178 S. E. 743). “A corporation of this State is not subject to a suit for equitable relief by injunction in a county other than that fixed by its charter as the county of its principal office; and this is true although the suit embraces also a claim for past damages.” Etowah Milling Co. v. Crenshaw, 116 Ga. 406 (42 S. E. 709); Georgia Land &c. Co. v. Savannah River Lumber Co., 150 Ga. 202 (103 S. E. 167). In this connection, see also Townsend v. Brinson, 117 Ga. 375 (43 S. E. 748); Baker v. Davis, 127 Ga. 649 (57 S. E. 62); Malsby & Co. v. Studstill, 127 Ga. 726 (56
As our judgment on the cross-bill of exceptions necessarily effects a final disposition of the case, adverse to the plaintiffs in error in the main bill of exceptions, it is needless for us to deal with the questions in the main bill.
Judgment reversed on the cross-bill of exceptions; main bill of exceptions dismissed.