53 Ga. App. 175 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1936
Georgia Hardwood Lumber Company sued out an attachment against Hooker-Bassett Furniture Company, a Virginia corporation. In the declaration it was alleged that the defendant owed the plaintiff a balance of $549.44 on an account for lumber which the plaintiff had sent to the defendant, at various times and in various amounts, in compliance with two contracts, one of which was for six carloads of 4/4 and the other for two carloads of 8/4 sap gum lumber.
In the answer of the defendant the account was denied. It was alleged that the plaintiff had contracted to furnish 100,000 feet of the 4/4 and 35,000 feet of the 8/4 lumber, and had broken the contracts by failing and refusing to ship 26,254 feet, that the plaintiff refused to complete the order because the lumber had increased in market value, on account of which defendant was entitled to a credit of $1050.16, that the defendant had rendered a statement to the plaintiff, accompanied by a letter and a check for
On the trial the jury found for the plaintiff the amount sued for. The defendant moved for a new trial and the motion was overruled.
The evidence was quite voluminous, but only so much of it as related to the defendant’s plea of accord and satisfaction need be stated. In support of this plea, the defendant introduced the statement of account and the letter, copies of which, as exhibits to the answer are set out above. The defendant also introduced the check for $668.61, dated August 3, 1933, payable to the order of Georgia Hardwood Lumber Company, signed by Hooker-Bassett Furniture Company. On the left-hand lower corner of the
There was no evidence tending to show that the defendant’s claim to compensation for the plaintiff’s failure to deliver all the lumber
It is settled that it is not necessary for a party pleading an accord and satisfaction to show that he had a meritorious claim. Of course, a merely pretended claim would not suffice. The plaintiff in accepting and cashing the check of the defendant settled its account as effectually as if it had signed a receipt in full. The evidence demanded a verdict for the defendant, and the court erred in overruling the defendant’s motion for new trial. Code of 1933, § 20-1204; Bass Dry-Goods Co. v. Roberts Coal Co., 4 Ga. App. 520 (61 S. E. 1134); Riley & Co. v. London Guaranty &c. Co., 27 Ga. App. 686 (1 d) (109 S. E. 676); Edwards Bottling Works v. Jarnagin, 11 Ga. App. 162, 163 (74 S. E. 1004).
Judgment reversed.