176 Ga. 138 | Ga. | 1932
O. B. Moody brought a petition for injunction and receiver against S. G. Kelley, alleging in substance the following: S. G. Kelley is indebted to petitioner $175 or other large amount. On or about January 1, 1931, petitioner and Kelley entered into an oral contract whereby petitioner was to cultivate as a sharecropper thirty-five acres pi land belonging to Kelley, it being agreed that Kelley was to furnish the land, the mule feed, planting seed, half of the fertilizer used under the crops grown on the place, syrup as needed, and $5 per month in cash for the first six months of the year, with which to buy supplies in making the crop. It was agreed, between the parties that petitioner should use his own mule and plow tools in making and gathering the crop, and Kelley was
The defendant filed a demurrer on the grounds that the petition sets out no cause of action; that there is no equity in the petition; and that the plaintiff has an adequate remedy at law. The court overruled the demurrer, and the defendant excepted.
This case does not involve strictly a share-cropper’s contract with his landlord, whereby the share-cropper receives only one half of the crop planted, cultivated, and gathered as his Avages for so doing; but it is a contract where, as is alleged, the plaintiff is to receive, in addition to half of the cotton and corn groAvn upon the land of the landlord, a certain sum of money for the use of his mule, plow, and farm implements; Avh'ere he was to furnish the seed for planting velvet beans and “runner peanuts,” and was to receive all of this latter crop of feed for his hogs; and the defendant is insolvent. There is a prayer for receiver, and for injunction to prevent the landlord from selling the crops until it can be determined what the plaintiff is entitled to under the contract as alleged. It is contended that the plaintiff had an adequate remedy at law by foreclosing his laborer’s lien; but. under a laborer’s lien the plaintiff could recover only the value of his labor in raising the crops which' the landlord was to divide Avith him as compensation for his labor in making and gathering the crops. In the instant case there was something more than labor expended on the part of the plaintiff,.as alleged; and there Avere other features in the contract as alleged, which' would entitle the plaintiff to the fuller relief given in a court of .equity than would be accorded by foreclosing his laborer’s lien. The share-cropper was to receive, as already stated, a certain sum for the hire of his mule, plow tools, etc.; and therefore a laborer’s lien would not be an adequate remedy for the recovery of plaintiff’s claim. McElmurray v. Turner, 86 Ga. 215 (2) (12 S. E. 359), DeLoach v. Delk, 119 Ga. 884 (47 S. E. 204), Lewis v. Owens, 124 Ga. 228 (52 S. E. 333), Garrick v. Jones, 2 Ga. App. 382 (2) (58 S. E. 543), Smart v. Hill, 29 Ga. App. 400 (116 S. E. 66), and Howard v. Franklin, 32 Ga. App. 737 (124 S. E. 554), were cases
Judgment affirmed.